PHILADELPHIA — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team dropped the first leg of its Philadelphia trip to Saint Joseph’s, 68-64, on Wednesday night at Michael J. Hagan Arena.

Frank Mitchell led the way for the Bonnies (11-6, 0-4 A-10) with 22 points — 20 of which came in the first half — and eight rebounds. Cayden Charles and Buddy Simmons II rounded out the double-figure scorers for St. Bonaventure, with 17 and 14 points, respectively.

Saint Joseph’s (11-7, 3-2 A-10) opened the scoring with six consecutive points, which St. Bonaventure answered with a three from Simmons II and a layup by Dasonte Bowen, bringing the Bonnies within one with 16:32.

Over the next 13:51, Mitchell scored 18 straight points for the Bonnies. Mitchell alone could not keep pace with the Hawks, as by the time Daniel Egbuniwe made a pair of free throws with 2:41 left in the half, St. Bonaventure trailed, 30-25.

Mitchell added a dunk for good measure to bring his first-half total to 20 points with four seconds before the break, however the Bonnies still trailed, 35-28.

Saint Joseph’s pushed its lead to a game-high-tying 11 points out of the break.