The Salukis failed to overcome turnovers and the Bonnies went on multiple runs to hand SIU its fourth loss of the season, 83-71.

St. Bonaventure University (4- 1) had a size advantage over the Salukis (1-4), but it was their guard play that was the deciding factor.

Senior guard Desmar Jackson finished the first half with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting and was perfect from the foul line. Freshman guard Marcus Fillyaw found himself in foul trouble early, limiting his first half minutes.

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The Salukis were down 15 in the first half but fought back and cut the St. Bonaventure lead to 10. SIU trailed 40-30 at the half.

SIU shot 38 percent from the field in the first half while the Bonnies shot 52 percent. The Salukis out-rebounded St. Bonaventure 15-14 with sophomore guard Anthony Beane grabbing three rebounds in the first half.

Along with poor shooting from the field, the Salukis were not able to hang on to the ball, and had 10 turnovers in the half.

Turnovers were not only an issue in the first half but the entire game. The Bonnies scored a total of 25 points off of SIU turnovers.

The Salukis faced a 16-point deficit in the second half, but cut the lead to 63-56 with nine minutes left. However, it did not take long for the Bonnies to bust the game open again.

The St. Bonaventure guards, led by Matthew Wright, were too much for the Salukis. The senior finished with 32 points.

Jackson was the leading scorer for SIU, finishing with 25 points. It is Jackson’s third straight game with at least 20 points, and he has scored 78 points during that span. Sophomore guard Anthony Beane had another hot shooting game with 13 points, and was 5-of-10 from the field.

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Sophomore guard Jalen Pendleton played 25 minutes in his first start of the season. Pendleton had a respectable game filling in for injured forward Bronson Verhines. He finished with 13 points on 5-of- 9 shooting from the field.

Freshman guard Sean O’Brien also filled in for Verhines. O’Brien finished with eight points in 30 minutes, and led the team with six rebounds.

Even in the loss, the Salukis shot 55 percent from the field, which was better than the Bonnies’ 53 percent.

St. Bonaventure entered the game shooting 23 percent from long distance but were 10-of-21 from the 3-point line which decimated the zone defense of the Salukis.

With the loss, SIU (1-4) plays Stetson University (0-6) at 1:30 p.m. today.