Courtesy of GoBonnies.com
St. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley each scored 24 points and five Bonnies in all reached double figures as St. Bonaventure topped Richmond, 97-88, on Saturday for its sixth consecutive win.
The Bonnies (18-6) moved into a tie with Davidson for second place in the Atlantic 10 Conference at 8-4.
St. Bonaventure led 51-42 at halftime but saw the Spiders come back at the start of the second half to grab a 58-55 lead.
Richmond was leading 61-59 when Adams took over the game, scoring 10 straight points to put the Bonnies up 69-61. A three-pointer at the 9:30 mark capped Adams’ personal run. Matt Mobley added a three-pointer at the 9:11 mark, pushing the lead to 72-61 and bringing the sellout crowd to its feet.
After that point, the Spiders were not able to come any closer than six points as the Bonnies fended off multiple chances. It was down to an 82-77 margin but Mobley scored on a drive and then Adams fed sophomore center Amadi Ikpeze for a dunk. Two free throws by Adams with 1:07 put the Bonnies in control at 88-77.
Adams’ final three-pointer in the 10-0 second half run moved him past both J.R. Bremer and Marques Green on St. Bonaventure’s all-time scoring list, making Adams the highest scoring guard ever in school history. Adams’ 24 points on the day gave him 1,741 points for his career, which ranks seventh all-time at Bona.
In the first half, Mobley came out of the gates hot for St. Bonaventure, knocking down his first three shots from behind in the first six minutes of the game. Another trey from the Worcester, Mass. native with 48 seconds left in the first half would give him four on the day, giving the Bonnies a 51-42 lead heading into halftime. The Bonnies were boosted primarily by second chance points during the first 20 minutes of play, outscoring the Spiders 14-4 in that area.
Mobley ended with 24 points. Courtney Stockard recorded his second double double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds while added six assists. Amadi Ikpeze, who started in place of the injured LaDarien Griffin, scored 12 points and set a season high in rebounds with eight.
Stats of the Game
1. The Bonnies’ three players who came off the bench, Tshiefu Ngalakulondi (7), Nelson Kaputo (4) and Izaiah Brockington (3) combined for 14 points, outscoring Richmond’s bench 14-3.
2. St. Bonaventure was nearly perfect at the free throw line, going 21-22.
Beyond The Boxscore
– St. Bonaventure’s six-game streak is their second-longest this season but is the longest A-10 win streak for the program since 1982-83. That club also won six conference games in a row.
– The Bonnies played without two of their regular forwards, LaDarien Griffin and Josh Ayeni. Griffin, who had started every game this year and ranks 12th in the A-10 in rebounding, sat out with a sprained ankle. Ayeni is suspended indefinitely starting with Saturday’s game.
– St. Bonaventure has now won 10 straight games at the Reilly Center.
Quotes From Coach Mark Schmidt
“It was a great offensive game by both teams. A tremendous crowd on alumni weekend … they came, they saw a great game. Jay and Matt did what they had to do. I thought Courtney, Idris, and Chef were the players of the game. I thought they were the difference in the game.”
“We had a tough time guarding (Richmond) in the beginning. I thought our zone slowed them down a little bit. They took the lead and then Jay went on a 10-0 run and then we just continued to play. We did a decent job in the second half of guarding them. We did a better job in the second half keeping the ball in front of us. We found ourselves. We got some stops. We pushed the lead out. We finished the game the right way. It was a good victory and hopefully we can continue to improve.”
“We had guys step up. It’s good to see that we have guys talented enough to step up and help us and be productive. I’ve said this for a long time, especially going into the season, it’s not a two man game. You need five guys playing together and you need those role guys playing their part and I thought Courtney, Idris, and LaDarien, they’ve played their part. Within the four walls of the Reilly Center, we know how important they are.”
Up Next: St. Bonaventure will travel to Philadelphia to face La Salle on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 7:00.
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