ST. BONAVENTURE — St. Bonaventure’s four star sophomores all scored in double figures as the Bonnies held off Richmond, 75-71, Saturday in front of a soldout Reilly Center on a night holding tremendous implications for the upcoming Atlantic 10 Tournament.

The Bonnies (18-9, 10-4) moved into a tie for third in the A-10 standings, a tie they currently hold the tiebreaker in against Richmond after the Spiders fell to 20-7, 10-4.

Jaren English posted 17 points to lead the scoring while Dominick Welch delivered his fifth double-double of the year with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Osun Osunniyi and Kyle Lofton each finished with 13 points apiece.

“They hit some big shots at the end. They’re a team that you have to pick your poison with. Do you take Golden away? Do you try to take the guards away? They’re just hard to defend. They played exceptionally well. But I thought our guys followed the game plan,” St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “I thought Dom was terrific. We had a good bounce back game. We have a young team, and we didn’t play well the last time we were out. We have competitors. I thought they answered the bell. They came out and played hard, they played with energy, and we didn’t fold. We hit some big foul shots at the end. As they were raining threes, we stuck together.”

St. Bonaventure never trailed and seemed to have things well in hand, leading by as much as 16 and held a 12-point advantage with 3:30 to play.

The Spiders made things interesting late, though, forcing the Bonnies to sink free throws to seal the victory.

A trey from Blake Francis cut the lead to one possession, 69-66, with 32 seconds to play. A foul sent English to the line where he calmly sank both, but another 3 from Francis made it a 71-69 score with still 16 seconds remaining.

This time, Welch was fouled and he two drained both at the line. Richmond had one more chance with a layup for a 73-71 score with seven seconds to go, but another Spiders foul sent English back to the line where he again converted both to clinch the win.

The Bonnies controlled momentum from the outset, opening the game on a 14-4 run to set the tone.

Osunniyi backed his defender to the hoop for a basket and Welch followed with a corner trey on the next possession to ignite the Bona crowd with a 59-46 lead at the nine-minute mark. Following a Richmond timeout, Bobby Planutis kept the run going with a 3 of his own as the lead grew to 13.

Planutis chipped in with 9 points off the bench, adding five rebounds.

“I thought Bobby Planutis hit a couple of shots in the second half that were big. I thought that shot that ‘Shoon hit down in the corner was a big one. But we got the ball inside in the second half, which helped,” Schmidt said. “‘Shoon had a couple back-to-the-basket moves. But we kept the ball out of the paint for the most part. We played relatively well. I was proud of the effort. Sometimes we were late on some rotations, and every time you’re late they make you pay. But it was a good victory over a really good team.”

For the night, the Bonnies shot 50 percent from the floor and returned to their winning ways on the glass, owning a 36-30 rebounding advantage.

Francis led all scorers with 23 points for Richmond.

NOTES: With the win, the Bonnies have reached double-figure victories in Atlantic 10 play for the sixth consecutive season — that’s the longest active streak in the league. … The Bonnies have reached at least 18 wins in a season for the seventh straight year. … Richmond owns a 17-10 edge in the series all-time, but the Bonnies have won the last four games and five of the past six. … Lofton finished with seven assists, the 22nd game of his career where has finished with six or more helpers. … The Bonnies remain at home to complete their homestand Wednesday by hosting Duquesne in another huge Atlantic 10 showdown. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

RICHMOND (71)

Cayo 1-3 0-0 2, Golden 5-10 2-3 13, Francis 8-22 4-6 23, Gilyard 5-11 2-2 16, Sherod 1-6 0-0 3, Burton 4-9 1-2 11, Gustavson 1-1 1-2 3, Koureissi 0-0 0-0 0, Grace 0-0 0-0 0, Wojcik 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-63 10-15 71.

ST. BONAVENTURE (75)

Winston 1-4 0-0 2, Osunniyi 6-7 1-2 13, English 4-10 7-8 17, Lofton 6-10 0-1 13, Welch 5-10 4-6 16, Planutis 2-6 4-4 9, Vasquez 2-4 0-0 5, Ikpeze 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 16-21 75.

Halftime–St. Bonaventure 40-32. 3-Point Goals–Richmond 11-35 (Gilyard 4-10, Francis 3-13, Burton 2-4, Golden 1-2, Sherod 1-5, Wojcik 0-1), St. Bonaventure 7-21 (Welch 2-5, English 2-7, Lofton 1-2, Vasquez 1-2, Planutis 1-3, Winston 0-2). Rebounds–Richmond 28 (Burton 9), St. Bonaventure 31 (Welch 12). Assists–Richmond 18 (Gilyard 6), St. Bonaventure 17 (Lofton 7). Total Fouls–Richmond 16, St. Bonaventure 13. A–5,480 (5,480).