February 14, 2009 | AP Press

OLEAN, N.Y. — Maurice Thomas scored 18 points and had seven rebounds to lead St. Bonaventure over Massachusetts, 83-75, Saturday in Atlantic 10 conference play.

Chris Matthews also scored 18 points for St. Bonaventure (13-11, 4-7). Jonathan Hall scored 13 points and had 10 rebounds while Malcolm Eleby turned in 12 points and seven assists.

For Massachusetts (9-14, 4-6), Tony Gaffney scored a game-high 21 points and Ricky Harris scored 19. Chris Lowe and Luke Bonner added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

With Massachusetts leading 17-12, St. Bonaventure kicked off a 9-2 run with 13:06 left in the half to tie the game at 21. The contest stayed neck-and-neck until 2:24 remained in the game, when Matthews hit a 3-pointer to give the Bonnies a 75-73 lead. Andrew Nicholson followed up Matthews shot with a slam dunk that effectively put the game away for St. Bonaventure .