PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team scored a season-best point total in its 99-80 win over La Salle in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Wednesday (March 11) at PPG Paints Arena. All five members of the Bonnies' starting lineup scored at least 13 points in the win.
Buddy Simmons II led St. Bonaventure (16-16) with 21 points, while
Frank Mitchell nearly tallied his eighth straight double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Dasonte Bowen and
Cayden Charles each posted 16 points and seven rebounds, with Bowen adding a team-best nine assists.
Daniel Egbuniwe rounded out the starting lineup with 13 points on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc.
The Bonnies shot 56.7 percent (38-for-67) from the field and 54.2 percent (13-for-24) from beyond the arc. SBU's 38 made field goals were a season-best and the team's most since the 2023-24 season. The Brown and White also made a season-best-tying 13 three-pointers.
UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure will advance to the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament against No. 5-seeded George Mason on Thursday (March 12) at PPG Paints Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised live on USA Network.
Tickets for Thursday's game are
available here. To RSVP for St. Bonaventure's exclusive pre-game event inside PPG Paints Arena,
click here.
FIRST HALF
The two teams were evenly matched to start the game, heading into the under-16 timeout tied at 10. The Bonnies took their first substantial lead over La Salle (9-23) out of the timeout behind a 12-2 run, leading 22-14 at the 11:55 mark.
La Salle pulled within two with 7:49 before the break, however the Bonnies answered by holding the Explorers to just seven points the rest of the half. After ending the first half on a 10-0 run, St. Bonaventure led at halftime, 48-33. Simmons II had a team-best 13 points in the first half.
SECOND HALF
The Bonnies opened the second half the same way they ended the first: red hot. St. Bonaventure extended its lead to 21 in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the second half, forcing a La Salle timeout.
The Bonnies led by as many as 26 in the second half, with La Salle only managing to pull within 17 the rest of the way. The first three-pointer of the season from walk-on
Broek Ostrom put the exclamation point on a 99-80 win for St. Bonaventure.
NOTES:
- With five three-pointers, Simmons II leapt into a tie for fifth place in the Bonnies' leaderboard for most three-pointers in a season. He and Dominick Welch (2021-22) each made 91.
- Bowen posted nine assists, his 10th game with seven-or-more assists this season.
- St. Bonaventure had three players tally at least 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists: Mitchell, Bowen and Charles.
- The Bonnies fell one assist shy of their season-best, with 24 on the afternoon.
