ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The Atlantic 10 title is for the taking along with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament when #4 St. Bonaventure and #3 Xavier take the hardwood.
Watch the game on CBS and get all the news, notes, analysis and commentary on Pickin’ Splinters.
Xavier leads the series 24-15, including wins in each of the last 11 meetings. Xavier is 2-1 against St. Bonaventure in A-10 Championship play, although they have not met in the A-10 Championship since the first round in2004.
Mark Lyons led four Musketeers in double figures as Xavier downed St. Bonaventure 77-64 at the Cintas Center earlier this season. The Musketeers shot 27-54 as a team that afternoon and finished with 20 assists. Andrew Nicholson scored 20 on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 from the line. Freshman, Youssou Ndoye notched a career-best nine points.
TEAM STATISTICS XU OPP
SCORING 2280 2159
Points per game 71.2 67.5
Scoring margin +3.8 –
FIELD GOALS-ATT 809-1773 733-1841
Field goal pct . 4 5 6 . 3 9 8
3 POINT FG-ATT 159-448 202-660
3-point FG pct . 3 5 5 . 3 0 6
3-pt FG made per game 5.0 6.3
FREE THROWS-ATT 503-728 491-664
Free throw pct . 6 9 1 . 7 3 9
F-Throws made per game 15.7 15.3
REBOUNDS 1173 1094
Rebounds per game 36.7 34.2
Rebounding margin +2.5 –
ASSISTS 435 423
Assists per game 13.6 13.2
TURNOVERS 414 406
Turnovers per game 12.9 12.7
Turnover margin -0.2 –
Assist/turnover ratio 1.1 1.0
STEALS 196 209
Steals per game 6.1 6.5
BLOCKS 123 109
Blocks per game 3.8 3.4
WINNING STREAK 3 –
Home win streak 4 –
ATTENDANCE 162474 127767
Home games-Avg/Game 16-10155 12-8388
Neutral site-Avg/Game – 4-6778
Score by Periods 1st 2nd OT Totals
Xavier 1029 1219 32 2280
Opponents 1026 1114 19 2159
TEAM STATISTICS SBU OPP
————————————————–
SCORING…………….. 2124 1959
Points per game……. 70.8 65.3
Scoring margin…….. +5.5 –
FIELD GOALS-ATT……… 727-1579 675-1611
Field goal pct…….. .460 .419
3 POINT FG-ATT………. 162-474 176-536
3-point FG pct…….. .342 .328
3-pt FG made per game. 5.4 5.9
FREE THROWS-ATT……… 508-672 433-609
Free throw pct…….. .756 .711
F-Throws made per game 16.9 14.4
REBOUNDS……………. 1064 906
Rebounds per game….. 35.5 30.2
Rebounding margin….. +5.3 –
ASSISTS…………….. 413 371
Assists per game…… 13.8 12.4
TURNOVERS…………… 426 383
Turnovers per game…. 14.2 12.8
Turnover margin……. -1.4 –
Assist/turnover ratio. 1.0 1.0
STEALS……………… 173 207
Steals per game……. 5.8 6.9
BLOCKS……………… 122 78
Blocks per game……. 4.1 2.6
ATTENDANCE………….. 51035 89692
Home games-Avg/Game… 13-3926 14-5491
Neutral site-Avg/Game. – 3-4275
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT OT2 Total
——————– —- —- —- —- —-
St. Bonaventure….. 1066 1018 26 14 – 2124
Opponents……….. 904 1026 20 9 – 1959
St. Bonaventure Game Notes
Tu Holloway has passed two former Musketeers on the Xavier all-time scoring list. With 21 points against Dayton and another 21 against St. Louis, the senior has moved to #8 on the all-time list with 1,748.
Holloway passed Brian Grant (’94) and Steve Thomas (’66) this weekend. He is 32 points shy of passing Jamie Gladden (’93) for 7th all-time.
Entering the game, the Bonnies rank 28th in the country in rebounding margin with a + 5.5 rebounding edge.
Xavier on the other hand is 37th in the country in 3 point defense. Currently they are giving up about 6.27 per game (180/30).
1 hour and counting……
I know someone who will be rooting for Xavier…understandably so….but today MUST be the Bonnie’s day!
BEH – you will be happy to know that the Bonnie student section is already full. Bona is being well represented today.
BROTHER BEH!!!!
Great to see you on the Pine!
The Wolfpack is representing? Go Bona’s!
I posted a few responses to your article about the win yesterday.
Yes, yes. Saw the responses. Trying to catch up with everything.
No need to respond
Andre “Two Shoes” Walker is wearing two different sneakers today.
The reason? He blew out the right shoe for his pair yesterday. Apparently size 16 shoes are not readily available in Atlantic City. He is going with the multi shoe look today.
Xavier starters for today:
Tu Holloway, Mark Lyons, Kenny Frease, Dez Wells and Andre “Two Shoes” Walker
Bona starters:
Charlon Kloof, Jordan Gathers, Demitrius Conger, Da’Quan Cook and Andrew Nicholson.
We have our first media timeout. Both teams look a little tight right now.
Xavier has chosen to have Andre Walker guard Nicholson. Frease guarded him back in January when these teams met. Considering Nicholson’s outside game right now, the move isn’t surprising.
Bonnies lead 5-4.
Oh my gosh!!!!!!
The Bonnies appearing to be settling in, and are 4 for 5 from behind by the three point line. Nicholson is daring Walker to come out to guard him.
Eric Mosley, a Maricrest favorite just hit a three and was fouled in the act. Free throw was made and Bonnies are now up 17-7.
Alert: Teams that made 3 of their first 4 threes yesterday – lost. Just throwing it out there.
Chris Johnson has picked up two fouls and will have to sit.
Bonnies lead 21-11.
That was a Broadway call…no foul.
Xavier is currently 4 for their first 17 from the field.
Bonnies on the other hand have hit 5 of 6 from behind the three point line and are 9 for 16 from the field.
Bonnies lead 26-11.
They are CURRENTY out of their mind!
I am wondering right now how much yesterday’s game with SLU is taking its toll on Xavier.
Our last media timeout of the first half.
Bonnies have 9 assists on 10 field goals. Talk about sharing the rock!!
Xavier on the other hand cannot buy a bucket. They are 4 for 18 from the field.
Bonnies lead 29-15.
Bonnies will need to be careful and not fall victim to the fool’s gold. Early success on the arc doesn’t always stay.
Refs are not calling a good game at all!
Can you say “unselfish”?
Interesting to see Xavier go zone on SBU’s last possession. Judging by the success rate probably won’t see that any time soon.
It is so loud in here that you cannot hear the whistle.
Xavier’s Mark Lyons turns the ball over and Coach Schmidt wants to talk about it.
19.5 seconds left in the half and Bonnies lead 37-24.
Bonnies 13 assists on 14 FGS! Oh my!
Holy defense!!
A designed play out of a timeout to get Nicholson a three.
Transition defense has been masterful thus far.
Halftime..
Teams have head to the locker room with the Bonnies leading 37-24.
This is definitely a game of runs:
Bonnies coming out of the U16 media timeout and went on a 14-2 run to grab the lead.
Bonnies then went on a 7-0 lead later in the half.
I’m concerned because the Bonnie’s should be up by more.
Xavier’s answer to both of the runs by Bonnies with Tu Holloway.
Holloway is 4 for 6 from the field and has 11 points.
I’m perplexed by these refs!
Any Elvis fans out there? Can someone sing Return To Sender for us?
Nicholson is possesed!
We have our first media timeout in the second half. Xavier has unable to put a dent in the Bonnies lead even though SBU is just 1 for 5 from the field to start the half.
Xavier has still not hit a three pointer in this game.
Bonnies are outrebounding the Musketeers, 41-28.
Uh oh..
11-0 run by Xavier led by Mark Lyons’ 7 points has this game a lot closer.
Bonnies lead 41-35.
Nicholson doesn’t want to end just yet.
Mark Lyons has picked up his third and has been forced to the bench.
4 points by Nicholson and the Xavier run seems to have been stymied.
Bonnies lead 45-35.
Big time players show up in big time games. Andrew Nicholson is doing just that.
18 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks with 10:33 to go.
Lyons has 4 fouls and has to sit.
Dez Wells has stepped up here in the last couple of minutes.
Bonnies lead 50-43.
Pair of FTs from Kenny Frease after a questionable no call on a Nicholson travel.
Timeout Bonnies.
Bonnies lead 50-45.
Good timeout Schmidt!
The pace is frantic right now.
Don’t think both teams know what is on the line right now?
Bonnies lead 56-50 with 2:31 to play
I expect Xavier to press. Captain Obvious just whispered in my ear.
Timeout with 2:04 to play.
Big time players come out in big time games. Andrew Nicholson has done just that.
26 points, 14 points, 8 blocks and is 10 for 10 from the free throw line.
Bonnies lead 58-50
Minutes away from the dance.