GAME NOTES: St. Bonaventure hits the road for the first time this season as it takes on the Niagara Purple Eagles in the first game of the Big 4 Classic at the First Niagara Center.

The Bonnies are off to a 3-1 start to the campaign, losing only to Siena (73-70) which joins Niagara as a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Since that defeat, the Bonnies have come up with a pair of single- digit victories, the latest being a 79-71 win over Jackson State at home earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Niagara has just a single victory to this point, but the good news is that it was in the MAAC opener against Saint Peter's nine days ago in a 61-59 thriller. Unfortunately, after that high point, the Purple Eagles lost a heart-breaker to Hartford last weekend in the home opener, 65-62.

St. Bonaventure, which owns an 85-69 advantage in the all-time series with Niagara, has won three straight meetings, one in each of the last three seasons. The latest victory was a narrow 74-72 decision on the road.

Against Jackson State, four of the five starter scored in double figures for the Bonnies, led by Jaylen Adams who tallied 19 points by shooting 4-of-8 behind the 3-point line. Making even more of an impact was Dion Wright with his double-double consisting of 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds as the hosts won the battle of the boards, 42-26. Marcus Posley and Andell Cumberbatch dropped in 14 and 12 points, respectively, while Youssou Ndoye tallied seven points and 10 rebounds.

Posley is shooting just 37.7 percent from the floor in the early going, but is still the leading scorer for the Bonnies with 18.0 ppg, followed by Cumberbatch and his 13.5 ppg, which goes along with not only 7.5 rpg but also a team-best 17 assists, although he too is struggling with his shots from the floor at only 38.1 percent. Wright and Adams pitch in with 12.3 ppg each, the latter hitting 52.2 percent of his 3-point tries through the first four games of the season.

Niagara led by five at the half against Hartford, but then the Purple Eagles allowed the visitors to knock down not only 50 percent from the floor in the second half but also 6-of-11 beyond the arc, en route to the three-point decision. Karonn Davis tried to keep Niagara in contention with 17 points, followed by Emile Blackman and Wesley Myers with 15 and 10 points, respectively.

Niagara is far from an offensive juggernaut this season, producing a mere 56.0 ppg, while giving up 67.3 ppg. The high man on the scoring chart is Blackman with his 13.3 ppg, while Rayvon Harris is responsible for another 11.7 ppg as someone who could be contributing even more on offense if not for his mere 65.4 percent effort at the free-throw line. Then again, the team as a whole is struggling a bit at the charity stripe at only 66.2 percent.

With Niagara having trouble putting together solid offensive efforts, the Bonnies appear to be on their way to a fourth straight win in the series.