GAME NOTES: St, Bonaventure tries to put an end to a two-game slide on Wednesday night, as the team tangles with the George Mason Patriots in Atlantic 10 Conference play at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York.

The Bonnies are 1-2 in conference play thanks to a 69-55 romp over UMass in the league opener on Jan. 3, but since then the team has come up empty in two more A-10 bouts. The latest defeat was a disappointing 60-41 final at Richmond over the weekend, the fourth loss in the last five outings for the program.

As for the Patriots, they too have gotten off to a 1-2 start in league action and have dropped back-to-back decisions since beginning with a 70-62 victory over La Salle at home 11 days ago. Oddly enough, the latest loss for George Mason came against the same team that the Bonnies took down in the conference opener, UMass. A close call for sure, the Minutemen came up four points short against George Mason in a 66-62 final.

This is just the fifth meeting all-time between the programs, with them having split the previous four. Last season, after nearly a 10-year break, the Bonnies captured an 85-73 win on the road at the Patriot Center.

With 53.6 percent accuracy from the field in the first half, the Patriots were a step ahead of UMass by two points at the break, but that was before the hosts converted a mere 6-of-27 (.222) from the floor, including 1-of-7 behind the 3-point line in the second half of the four-point loss over the weekend. Shevon Thompson registered a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds, adding five blocked shots, while reserves Patrick Holloway and Corey Edwards tacked on 11 points apiece in the setback.

Thompson, the only player to have started all 15 games for the Patriots, is the leading scorer with his 12.9 ppg, but while he has converted 53.8 percent of his field goal tries, he is just 56.5 percent accurate at the free-throw line. He is also the leading man on the glass with 11.7 rpg but that does not excuse the fact that he has but a single assist in more than 400 minutes of action. Holloway is responsible for another 12.3 ppg and has connected on a team-high 23 3-pointers, yet is only 28.9 percent out on the perimeter for a team that is 31.4 percent accurate on the outside.

The effort by the Bonnies versus Richmond was simply brutal, as the visitors came up empty on all 10 of their 3-point tries and shot just 32.7 percent from the floor in the 19-point loss. Andell Cumberbatch, who shot only 4-of-11 from the floor, was the lone double-digit scorer with 10 points, adding six rebounds which was second only to reserve Chris Dees who cleared seven boards in 17 minutes.

Marcus Posley, who shot just 3-of-12 from the field and missed all five chances beyond the arc as he finished with six points and four turnovers versus the Spiders, is the leading scorer for the program with 16.7 ppg. Even though they are just two games above .500, the Bonnies have kept the same starting lineup in all but one game and those who have been the most consistent starters are all putting up double figures as Dion Wright generates 12.6 ppg, Jaylen Adams 11.0 ppg, Cumberbatch 10.8 ppg and Youssou Ndoye 10.2 ppg, the latter also pulling down 10.9 rpg as well.

As long as Posley doesn't have another horrible outing and the Bonnies again get support from all of the starters, this is a meeting that certainly St. Bonaventure should be able to claim.