Final Stats

OLEAN, NY -- John R. Wooden Award candidate Jaylen Adams scored a game-high 27 points and backcourt mate Matt Mobley added 20 as St. Bonaventure defeated Siena Basketball 81-74 at the Reilly Center to reclaim the Franciscan Cup. Red-shirt senior forward Brett Bisping posted his 20th career double-double with 23 points on 8-13 shooting and 13 rebounds for the Saints.

Denzel Gregg added 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks and David Andoh chipped in with 13 points off the bench for defending Atlantic 10 co-Regular Season Champion St. Bonaventure (4-2) which snapped a three-game Franciscan Cup losing streak.

Senior guard Marquis Wright scored 18 points and added five rebounds and five assists and sophomore guard Nico Clareth contributed 12 points off the bench for Siena (2-5) which was hamstrung at the free throw line in a close contest, shooting just 56.3% (18-32). Conversely, the Bonnies connected at an 85.2% (23-27) clip.

St. Bonaventure led for 36 minutes --including the final 30 -- but mostly by single digits as the Saints remained within striking distance throughout in another tightly contested battle for the Cup.

The Bonnies grabbed a 39-34 lead at the break. St. Bonaventure forced the Saints, which came in averaging 12.5 turnovers, into 13 first half miscues which led to 15 points which proved to be the difference in an otherwise tightly contested first half.

Adams scored seven straight points for the Bonnies which claimed their biggest lead of the night at 63-52 with 8:50 to play. But Siena continued to battle and chip away at the deficit, rallying within as close as a point on a Bisping put back to make it 74-73 with 63 seconds to go.

However Adams answered at the other end with a three-point play to push the St. Bonaventure lead back to four, and the Saints were unable to get any closer as they fell for the 18th time in 19 all-time meetings in Olean.

The game concluded a challenging road stretch to end November for Siena which played five of its final six games of the month on the road. The Saints have dropped six straight away from home dating back to last season, albeit against teams which each won 19+ games, combined to average 24.7 victories, and advanced to national postseason tournaments last year.

The Saints return to the friendly confines of the Times Union Center to open December and tip off their 28th season in the MAAC when they open conference play against Fairfield Saturday night at 7 p.m.