Newkirk, Saint Joseph's beat St. Bonaventure 83-78

Jan 7, 2018, 03:35 am

PHILADELPHIA -- Senior Shavar Newkirk had his second career double-double and James Demery scored 24 points to help Saint Joseph's beat St. Bonaventure 85-78 on Friday night, snapping a seven-game skid against the Bonnies.

Newkirk, a guard who had surgery on Feb. 10 to repair a torn ACL, finished with 23 points, a career-high 10 rebounds, five assists and a career-best five steals. He tied career highs with 11 free throws on 14 attempts. Pierfrancesco Oliva added nine points, eight rebounds and a career-best eight assists for St. Joe's (7-7, 2-1 Atlantic 10).

The Hawks led by as many as 17 points in the second half before Izaiah Brockington hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 13-2 run that pulled St. Bonaventure (11-4, 1-2) within six points midway through the period. Demery converted a 3-point play to push the lead to 79-71 with about 3 1/2 minute to go and St. Joe's, despite missing its last four field-goal attempts, made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 26 seconds to seal it.

Jaylen Adams had 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Bonnies. Courtney Stockard added career-high 17 points and Brockington scored 16.