ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y.  — St. Bonaventure hosts St. Francis of Pennsylvania in the 2016-17 season opener for both teams at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Reilly Center.

The Bonnies bring a fairly new-look team to the floor with six new players.
However, three of the mainstays from last year are back led by All-Conference junior point guard Jaylen Adams. He is joined by senior forward Denzel Gregg, the co-Sixth Man of the Year in the A-10 a year ago, and junior swingman Idris Taqqee. Those three players are the team captains.
St. Bonaventure is led by 2015-16 A-10 Coach of the Year Mark Schmidt, who begins his 10th season at the helm of the program. Schmidt has the task of replacing graduated seniors Marcus Posley and Dion Wright and integrating the team’s six new players.
Adams was a first team All-Conference selection last year, and he enters his junior season hoping to continue to build on a breakout sophomore campaign. Adams’ list of preseason accolades includes honorable mention All-America from Sports Illustrated. He will be joined in the backcourt by classmate Matt Mobley, who practiced with the team last year as a transfer.
Last year, a record-breaking regular season culminated with the Bonnies (22-9/14-4) as co-champions of the Atlantic 10 for the first time. It also was the first year since 1976-77 that St. Bonaventure won 20 games in the regular season; it was the 14th season of 20 wins or more in school history. The Bonnies also set a program record for Atlantic 10 victories.
Home openers have been kind to the Bonnies. They have won 11 straight home openers dating back to 2004. Since 1966, when the Reilly Center opened, St. Bonaventure is 47-2 in home openers. Under head coach Mark Schmidt, St. Bonaventure is 9-0 in home openers.
St. Bonaventure has six new players on the roster – three freshmen, one junior, one senior and one graduate student. That is not counting Courtney Stockard, who is out for the season due to a foot injury. The newcomers are led by upperclasmen Chinonso Obokoh, David Andoh and Matt Mobley. Obokoh is a graduate transfer who played at Syracuse the past three seasons who the Bonnies hope will bring an interior presence with his rebounding and shot-blocking abilities.

Andoh and Mobley both practiced with the Bonnies last season after transferring from
Liberty and Central Connecticut, respectively. Mobley, who averaged 17 points per game as a sophomore at CCS, is expected to start alongisde Jay Adams in the backcourt and also be the backup point guard. Andoh averaged 10 points and 7.0 rebounds at Liberty and should make an impact coming off the bench; he battled a stress fracture in his foot over the summer but is almost fully back.

Freshmen forwards Josh Ayeni, Amadi Ikpeze and guard Tareq Coburn make up a promising class. All three should have a chance to play immediately.