March 10, 2012

BOX SCORE | GAME 9 NOTES | ST. BONAVENTURE QUOTES | MASSACHUSETTS QUOTES

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Demitrius Conger had 22 points and 10 rebounds and St. Bonaventure advanced to the Atlantic 10 Conference championship game by holding off Massachusetts 84-80 on Saturday afternoon.

Conference player of the year Andrew Nicholson added 19 points for the fourth-seeded Bonnies (19-11), who are now a win away from advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000.

Massachusetts (22-11) rallied from a 16-point deficit with 7:29 to play and had a chance to take the lead in the closing seconds, only to see Raphiael Putney's high-arcing 3-pointer hit off the side of the rim with less than 2 seconds to play.

Matthew Wright hit two free throws to ice the game.

Terrell Vinson had 20 for UMass, which knocked off top-seeded Temple on Friday.