ST. BONAVENTURE, NY — Rochester native Melvin Council Jr. is the latest transfer addition to the 2024-25 St. Bonaventure men’s basketball roster, following an NCAA Tournament season at Wagner College.
The University Prep (Rochester) graduate announced his commitment to Bona on Instagram mid-day Tuesday. He attended Wagner in 2023-24 after two seasons at Monroe College, a junior college in New York City. A junior for his year at Wagner, Council is expected to have one year of eligibility at SBU.
Council, a 6-foot-4 guard, helped the Seahawks, from Staten Island, win the NEC (Northeast Conference) Tournament and an NCAA “First Four” game before losing to No. 1 seed North Carolina in March.
At Wagner, Council averaged 14.9 points and 5.7 rebounds — both team-highs — along with 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game this season. Starting 27 of 33 games, Council led the Seahawks in minutes per game (35.8) and field goal attempts.
Some of his strongest performances came on the big stage, scoring 21 points on 10-of-18 shooting with seven assists and five rebounds, playing all 40 minutes in Wagner’s 71-68 win over Howard in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.
He tied for the team-high with 18 points the next round, again playing all 40 minutes of a 90-62 loss to UNC in Charlotte.
Council also enjoyed a big game against an Atlantic 10 team, scoring 21 points in a season-opening 68-64 overtime loss at Fordham.
He was a third-team All-Met selection by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association along with First Team All-NEC and making the NEC All-Tournament Team.
Before his Wagner days, Council earned NJCAA Division I All-American honors at Monroe, scoring 1,400 points (a program record) in two years. He averaged 18.7 points, 4.1 assists and 2.4 steals in 2022-23. He starred in the 2023 NJCAA Div. I tournament, avergating 21 points, 5.5 assists and five rebounds.
As a senior in high school, Council led UPrep to a Section 5 Class AA championship in 2020, averaging 25.2 points per game that year.
Council is now the 10th committed scholarship player for the upcoming Bona season and the sixth ‘24 transfer of the group. He joins junior Dasonte Bowen, sophomore Jonah Hinton and redshirt freshman Miles Rose in the Bona backcourt. The forward group includes Chance Moore, Jaxon Edwards, LaJae Jones, Duane Thompson and Ebrahim Kaba; along with center Noel Brown, the lone holdover with major playing experience for last year’s team.
With Council’s arrival, coach Mark Schmidt and his staff have up to three remaining scholarships to offer.
