ST. BONAVENTURE — St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt calls senior guard Melvin Council Jr. the ‘personality’ of his team.

As for the Bonnies as a whole, it’s becoming clear that the personality of this squad is gritty, resilient – and a bona fide contender in the Atlantic 10.

Council’s drive of the lane as the clock ticked down to three seconds resulted in a layup off the glass for the game-winning bucket as St. Bonaventure outlasted the preseason A-10 favorite VCU, 77-75, at the Reilly Center on Tuesday afternoon.

“When you talk about guys who have ‘it,’ he has it,” Schmidt said postgame. “He’s a gamer. There was no doubt he was going to have the ball in his hands. He made a great read, he beat the five man and he finished.”

The last two points of the game broke one of the 10 ties the Bonnies and Rams shared along with the 16 times the squads exchanged the lead.

Council finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists to match the 20 points tallied by Noel Brown.

Jonah Hinton recorded a Division I career-high of 16 points and Lajae Jones chipped in 11 points.

With the win, the Bonnies improve to 13-1 on the season while opening A-10 play with a victory.

“I was looking for Noel,” Council said of the game-winning sequence. “Noel said if ‘I seal (the post), just lay the ball up.’ He did the perfect seal and I was open. That was a special play and a special moment.”

Bona held its largest lead of six with 14:33 to play, but it would be the most breathing room enjoyed by either squad all day.

Tuesday’s game, considered by many to be the best of the A-10’s opening week slate, lived up to the billing.

A truly back-and-forth contest, the Bonnies saw their six-point edge quickly evaporate into a 52-52 tie.

That started a series of lead changes as neither side established control.

It was a day without runs – each team had a best scoring run of just six – instead, the Bonnies and Rams kept exchanging blows.

Bona’s leading scorer Chance Moore was held without a first half point but gave the Bonnies energy in the second half with eight points along with 12 boards.

Moore found foul trouble late, though, forced to sit with his fourth foul at the 6:43 mark. Then after minutes on the bench, was whistled for his fifth with 1:03 to go in a one-point game.

Council hit the front end of a one-and-one at the line for a 75-73 score before Phillip Russell drove the baseline for the tie and 17 seconds remaining.

VCU’s Russell proved to be a thorn in the side of the Bonnies all day, draining six 3-pointers for a game-high 26 points.

Following a Bonnies timeout, Council beat his man off the dribble to get to the rim for the leading bucket.

VCU called for time to set up a final shot, allowing Russell to get a look at a potential game-winning three from well beyond the arc. His effort was just off line, rimming out as time expired.

Though the Bonnies led for over 15 minutes of the first half, the teams were never separated by more than four points until the 3:52 mark when Bona pulled ahead by five as Jones took on three defenders to get to the bucket for a layup.

VCU immediately answered with back-to-back three-pointers to retake the lead, however, Bona’s made five of its last six field goal attempts for a four-point edge at intermission, 38-34.

Joe Bamisile added 13 points for VCU (10-4, 0-1).

GAME NOTES

The Bonnies shot at an impressive 50 percent clip for the game (29-58) while VCU was at 48 percent (28-58). VCU was +3 on the glass, though the Bonnies owned a 48-32 advantage in the paint. The Rams kept up by going 11-31 from distance.

The Bonnies have now won 10 of their last 12 Atlantic 10 openers and improved to 13-5 in A-10 lid-lifters during the Mark Schmidt era.

St. Bonaventure improved to 11-8 all-time vs. VCU and extended its winning streak over the Rams to four straight.

Brown turned in his second career 20-point game in his 115th career contest. His career high of 22 points came in a win over Bryant last month.

Council recorded his second 20-point game of the season, both coming in the four games since he took over the team’s point guard duties following a foot injury to Dasonte Bowen earlier this month. Council played all 40 minutes Tuesday.

Moore tied his season-high with 12 rebounds and tallied all eight of his points after halftime.

Noah Bolanga played nearly 15 minutes off the bench with a team-high plus-5 +/- ranking.

UP NEXT

St. Bonaventure makes its first A-10 road trip of the season, staying in the Empire State to take on Fordham on Saturday in the Bronx. Tip time is slated for 2 p.m.