ST. BONAVENTURE — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team scored a 70-63 victory in front of a capacity Homecoming Weekend crowd vs. rival Duquesne Saturday in the Reilly Center, leading nearly wire-to-wire before holding off the Dukes in the final minutes.

Lajae Jones put on a star performance, matching his career-high of 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor, adding a career-best five steals.

Melvin Council Jr. added 20 points and four assists on Senior Day.

St. Bonaventure (19-9, 7-8 A-10) owned much of the first half, shooting 50 percent from the floor on the way to a 39-30 advantage at the break.

Bona’s lead grew to double digits early in the second half, 44-33, but in typical fashion for a Bonnies-Dukes matchup, things would quickly tighten.

Duquesne was back within a six-point margin with 14:39 to play and continued the comeback.

The Dukes used an 8-0 run to close within a point, 61-60, with all of those points coming as the second chance variety as the visitors owned a +15 margin on the books.

Chance Moore gave the Bonnies a key driving layup for a 63-60 tally with 4:39 remaining. That score remained for two minutes until Council drained a trey for breathing room.

Duquesne (11-16, 6-8 A-10) got back within three with 41 seconds left before Jonah Hinton made two at the line. Bona’s defense got a stop on the next Dukes trip down the floor to put the game on ice.

Tre Dinkins led the way for Duquesne with 15 points.

GAME NOTES: Prior to Saturday’s game, the Bonnies honored graduating seniors Noel Brown, Melvin Council Jr. and Chance Moore. While Brown is earning his graduate degree and Moore is wrapping up his four-year eligibility, Council still has a year of eligibility remaining should he choose to use it.

¯ St. Bonaventure advances to 71-65 all-time against Duquesne. The win snaps a five-game losing streak against the Dukes and is Bona’s first win vs. the Dukes since Feb.11, 2023.

¯ At the 17:15 mark of the first half, Chance Moore eclipsed 1,000 career points on free throws.

¯ In Noel Brown’s 129th career game, the center made his third career three-pointer.

¯ Brown’s three steals and five assists were career highs.

¯ Jones scored 20+ points for the third time in his career. Jones matched his career-high in points (24) and field goals made (8).

¯ Jones and Council played the full 40 minutes.

¯ Council scored 20 or more points for the fourth time this season.

¯ Bonaventure had 15 fastbreak points in the second half.

¯ Entering the day, 12 of the last 20 matchups between the Bonnies and Dukes had been decided by six or fewer points with Saturday’s game narrowly avoiding joining that number.

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT

“I thought Lajae and Melvin carried us offensively, but I thought it was an emotional game just because it’s Senior Day. Noel, you know, that’s the last senior day he’ll have. It was emotional. It’s hard what Noel went through with his mom passing. It was a tough day for him. Before the game, he did a good job keeping those emotions inside when he was playing. The game was for the seniors, and I thought our guys showed some character and played an inspiring game.”

UP NEXT

St. Bonaventure next travels to Philadelphia to take on Saint Joseph’s Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Wednesday’s game will stream through Peacock.