St. Bonaventure Outruns Buffalo to Claim Victory

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Andrew Nicholson led St. Bonaventure (3-3) with 23 points and eight rebounds as the Bonnies took control in the second half and held on for a 66-60 victory at Buffalo (4-2) on Saturday. Buffalo led 31-29 after a tight first half and 46-41 with 12:54 to play in the game after Zach Filzen – who finished with 26 points on 6-of-8 from 3-point range - converted one of his triples. From there though, the Bonnies rattled off 15 unanswered to build a 10-point lead that would hold up for good, though the Bulls pulled to within four twice within the final minute. Junior Demitrius Conger and sophomore Matthew Wright paced the clinching run with a 3-pointer each and finished with 11 and 10 points respectively. Wright added a season-high six assists in his first career start. Battling bronchitis, Nicholson was 8-of-9 from the field for the game and scored eight of the Bonnies' final 10 points to close it out. After the Bonnies' run, Buffalo closed the gap with a 10-4 push down the stretch to cut the Bona lead to just four with 39 seconds left. UB missed a 3-point attempt with 22 ticks showing before Nicholson pushed the lead back to six with free throws. Mitchell Watt's put back with eight seconds left brought it back to four, but Eric Mosley's runout on the ensuing inbounds play capped the scoring. The Bonnies travel to Illinois on Wednesday for a game televised nationally by ESPN2. Game time is set for 9 p.m. EST. NOTES: Charlon Kloof and Wright earned their first career starts, in place of Mosley and Michael Davenport … The Bonnies changed their starting lineup for the first time this season … a bus full of SBU students made the 77-mile trip from St. Bonaventure to Buffalo … freshman Youssou Ndoye played a career-high 19 minutes and blocked two shots.