Photo courtesy of St. Bonaventure University Athletics Lajae Jones and the St. Bonaventure Bonnies will open Atlantic 10 Tournament play today at 11:30 a.m. against the Duquesne Dukes in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — St. Bonaventure will take on rival Duquesne in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, tipping off the tourney this morning at 11:30 a.m.

The Bonnies and Dukes will battle for the third time this season after splitting the regular season series.

The winner of today’s game moves on to play top-seeded VCU on Friday. The first two days will be broadcast on USA Network with games on CBS Sports Network on Saturday and the title game will air on CBS Sunday.

St. Bonaventure is 16-12 in A-10 Tournament play under head coach Mark Schmidt. Last season, SBU reached the A-10 semifinals before falling to eventual champion Duquesne.

The Bonnies have reached at least the quarterfinals in nine of the last 11 seasons the tournament has been completed. The Bonnies have won at least one A-10 Tournament game in nine of the 14 seasons they have qualified under Schmidt.

Last season marked the sixth time that the Bonnies have reached the A-10 semifinals under Schmidt and 10th time in program history. Schmidt’s Bonnies have been to the title game three times (2012, 2019, 2021; winning in ’12 and ’21). SBU is seeking its sixth appearance in the A-10 Championship Game in program history and third since 2019 (1984, 2000, 2012, 2019, 2021).

The Bonnies enter the tournament with 21 wins on the season. This year marks the seventh 20-win season during the Schmidt era and 19th in program history.

St. Bonaventure enters the tournament having won four of its last five games to wrap up the regular season.

This will be the 137th meeting between the longtime A-10 rivals and the second consecutive year they meet three times including the A-10 Tournament. St. Bonaventure leads the series, 71-65. St. Bonaventure dominated the series for years, winning 21 of 24 matchups from 2012-23, but the Dukes turned the tables in the last two seasons with five straight wins.

Bona’s snapped that skid with a 70-63 victory on home floor Feb. 22.

The games between the two teams are often tight: 12 of the last 21 meetings have been decided by six or fewer points.

Duquesne swept the three games the teams played last year, winning by a 54-50 win in the Steel City last January before scoring a 75-69 victory in the Reilly Center the next month. The squads then met in the Atlantic 10 semifinals where Duquesne captured a 70-60 win on the way to the conference title. The Dukes recorded their first season sweep of the Bonnies since 2009.

In 104 seasons of basketball, the Bonnies have only played Western New York rivals Canisius (172 meetings) and Niagara (162) more than Duquesne.

In Atlantic 10 Tournament games, the Bonnies are 4-3 vs. their regional rivals, including a win in the 2021 quarterfinals as the Bonnies went on to win the league crown.

Duquesne entered this week ranked 14th in the Atlantic 10 in offense at 69.5 ppg and fifth in defense, holding opponents to under 67 points per contest, a mark that also ranks 54th nationally.

The Dukes have often spread the wealth, ranking 39th nationally in bench points at over 27 points off the bench per game.

Junior guard Kareem Rozier ranks ninth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.22) while handing out 3.3 apg. Senior guard Tre Dinkins, who started his collegiate career at Canisius, is a threat from beyond the arc, ranking eighth in the A-10 with 76 3-pointers on the season entering this week.

The defending Atlantic 10 tournament champions, Duquesne is in its first season under the leadership of Dru Joyce III who served on the staff of previous head coach Keith Dambrot the past two years. As a player, Joyce handed out 503 assists for Akron as the team’s point guard when Dambrot was head coach of the Zips.

Last year was the first time that the Bonnies and Dukes have met in either the semifinals or title game with Duquesne holding on for a 70-60 win on the way to the A-10 Tournament title.

Schmidt has more victories over Duquesne than any other Atlantic 10 opponent (25).

The Bonnies have found success when starting the A-10 Tournament in the 8/9 game in the past. In 2014 as the No. 9 seed, the Bonnies won over La Salle, then defeated No. 18 and top-seeded Saint Louis, 71-68 before falling to Saint Joseph’s in the semis.

SBU was the last No. 8 seed in 2010 when they defeated Duquesne 83-71 in the 8/9 game first round before falling to top-seeded Temple in the second round.