GAME NOTES: A battle of teams from the Empire State is on tap Wednesday night at the Reilly Center, as the St. Bonaventure Bonnies host the Siena Saints in non-conference action.

Siena has gotten off to a slow start as it embarks on a three-game road trip, which begins against the Bonnies. The Saints dropped consecutive decisions against Massachusetts (95-87) and Vermont (84-76) to get things going. They will visit Loyola-Maryland and Fordham in their next two games.

St. Bonaventure is fortunate enough to play its first four games of the season at home. The Bonnies' season opener occurred last Saturday, when they easily downed Dartmouth, 77-57. They have been idle since. After Siena, they will take on another team from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, when Canisius pays a visit this Saturday.

Marquis Wright got a layup to fall at the buzzer to lift Siena to a thrilling 72-70 victory over St. Bonaventure last season. Wins have been hard to come by for the Saints in the all-time series, however, with the Bonnies winning 17 of the previous 18 matchups and 28 of 36 overall.

Siena was winless last season before facing St. Bonaventure, having dropped its first three games last season. However, it is a trend that the Saints would obviously like to stop. In the loss to Vermont, the Saints managed to connect on only 39.1 percent of their shots from the floor, while the Catamounts hit on a scorching 68.4 percent. Siena only managed to remain competitive because it was successful on 34-of-38 free-throw attempts.

Rob Poole, who normally starts for the Saints, came off the bench in the loss and scored a game-high 22 points, 12 of which came from the foul line. Poole has been the best scorer in the first two games, as he dropped in 19 points against UMass. On top of the scoring, Poole also has 11 rebounds and seven steals. Ryan Oliver (12.5 ppg) is the only other player to be averaging double figures at this point. Wright hasn't been much of a scorer (5.5 ppg), but he has dished out 12 assists. Evan Hymes has gotten off to an uneven start as well, although he did have 15 points against Vermont.

After the end of the first half it appeared St. Bonaventure might actually have trouble with Dartmouth. The Bonnies led by a slim 28-27 margin after managing only nine field goals in the first 20 minutes. They woke up after halftime and nearly doubled their field goal total from the first half (17), while hitting seven shots from beyond the arc.

Jaylen Adams was a big part of the second-half surge, as he scored all 16 of his points in the period, while going a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor, including a 4-of-4 effort from 3-point range. Adams was one of five players to score in double figures, four of which were in the starting lineup. Marcus Posley matched Adams with 16 points, while Dion Wright finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Andell Cumberbatch did not have his shooting touch in the game, making only 2-of-12 shot attempts, but he found a way to produce 10 points as well as 10 rebounds and six assists, all team-highs. Jalen Adams scored 11 points off the bench.

It took everything Siena had to knock off the Bonnies last season, and that was at home. Expect St. Bonaventure to exact some revenge in this one.