Courtesy of GoBonnies.com
ST. LOUIS, MO. — A record-setting regular season came to a fitting end Saturday as St. Bonaventure topped Saint Louis 64-56 to secure second place in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies’ 12th straight win gave them a record of 24-6 overall and 14-4 in the A-10, a game behind Rhode Island and a tie for the most conference wins in the program’s history.
St. Louis native Courtney Stockard powered the Bonnies with 22 points and 10 rebounds. His jumper with 3:15 left in the game stopped an 11-0 SLU run. From there, the Bonnies held Saint Louis to just five points the rest of the night and went 7-8 at the free throw line to earn the win.
St. Bonaventure’s defense was superb, limiting the Billikens to 20-58 shooting (34 percent) including 3-23 (13 percent) from behind the arc.
Jaylen Adams scored 12 points and Matt Mobley finished with 11. LaDarien Griffin totaled seven points and seven rebounds and Idris Taqqee chipped in seven points.
In the first half, both teams were solid defensively in the early going, as the Bonnies led 10-9 after two Mobley free throws at the 11:57 mark.
Midway through the first, Saint Louis had a 14-10 lead when St. Bonaventure responded with consecutive three-pointers by Idris Taqqee, Mobley and Adams to re-take the lead at 19-14.
The Bonnies had to navigate first half foul troubles as Adams, Mobley and Amadi Ikpeze all were called for two in the opening 17 minutes. Izaiah Brockington came off the bench to provide a spark, scoring the Bonnies’ last four points of the half to give the visitors a 31-25 edge at halftime.
Stockard and Mobley helped St. Bonaventure to a good start to the second half, as they made three-pointers to push the lead to 37-27 by the 16:45 mark. The advantage grew to 14 points at 43-29 after Stockard put back a missed shot.
The Billikens cut their deficit to 10, but the Bonnies answered right back with a three-point play by Stockard and a put-back dunk from Griffin to make it a 53-38 game with 8:44remaining.
Saint Louis had another surge in it, however, and trimmed the lead to four points at 53-49 with a 11-0 run. Aaron Hines capped the run with a three-pointer at the 4:13 mark – just the second field goal from behind the arc of the night for SLU.
Stockard finally ended the SLU run with a jumper at the 3:15 mark, but the Billikens answered with another Hines three-pointer that cut the game to 55-52.
Up Next: St. Bonaventure will head to Washington, D.C., and Capital One Arena for the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament. The Bonnies will play the winner of Thursday’s No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed quarterfinal on Friday, March 9, at 6 p.m.
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