AMHERST – That’s what the UMass men’s basketball team wants to look like.

The Minutemen pounded Saint Bonaventure in the paint and on the boards, closing the regular season with a 71-60 victory Saturday on Senior Day at the Mullins Center. They grabbed 41 rebounds, 19 on the offensive glass, and registered 30 points in the paint.

“There was a purpose for how we played,” UMass coach Frank Martin said. “We never got out of character. We never gave in.”

UMass (15-15, 6-12 Atlantic 10) led the Bonnies by seven a minute into the second half after an RJ Luis second-chance layup made it 29-22 Minutemen. Luis had 14 points and nine rebounds.

But Saint Bonaventure responded with seven points in a row to knot it at 29 with 17:21 left. T.J. Weeks Jr. gave the Minutemen a two-point lead with two free throws, but Chad Venning (18 points) dropped in a layup in the paint to tie the game for the final time.

UMass forward Dyondre Dominguez soared for a go-ahead dunk  with 16:34 left after a Matt Cross steal. Cross played for the first time since spraining his right MCL against Loyola Chicago. He contributed five points, three steals and four rebounds in a shade under 20 minutes off the bench.

“No surprise that we play with that physicality I'm talking about now. Now we got to get [Cross] up to speed over the next two days. Offensively he rushed too many things. That's what happens when you miss time, you start rushing stuff,” Martin said. “The strength, the toughness, he brings it. He gives everyone else courage.”

The Minutemen pushed their advantage out to nine with 11:47 left when Luis put back another offensive rebound. Saint Bonaventure (14-17, 8-10) pushed back. The Bonnies narrowed the gap to just 3 once Moses Flowers (16 points) drained a 3 with 3:22 left. They never tied it.

Weeks splashed a 3 on the next possession wide open from the right corner. He missed his previous three triples but didn’t hesitate with a clean look at the basket.

The Minutemen’s depth also wore on Saint Bonaventure in the second half. UMass benefited from a 29-0 advantage off the bench. Rahsool Diggins scored 14 points with two assists, and Dominguez added six points.

UMass had 15 assists, as well.

“This week in practice, we did a lot of up and down stuff, tried to play freely outside the system. That really got the ball moving a lot,” Diggins said. “We stuck to our details getting the ball down low, make them guard us because we got two physical big men that it's hard to bang with most of the time.”

Wildens Leveque had 11 points, five rebounds and three highlight-reel blocks. Isaac Kante scored eight points with five rebounds. The Minutemen also shot 24-of-29 from the free throw line compared to 12-of-14 by Saint Bonaventure.

Three Bonnies fouled out: Daryl Banks III with 6:14 left, Yann Farell (47 seconds), and Venning (21 seconds). Their foul trouble forced Saint Bonaventure to go deeper into its bench than it was comfortable.

“The way our offense is, we play really hard, and it's really hard to adjust to us. Especially when we're all in sync and connected,” Leveque said. “Then they're gonna foul us. It’s hard stop us.”

UMass honored six players for senior day: the injured Noah Fernandes, Weeks, Leveque, Kante, John Kelly and Brandon Martin.

“I'm extremely thankful for every one of those guys, man. We've talked about trying to rebuild this program. We've accomplished a lot of good things. Obviously, the month of February wasn't a whole lot of fun,” Frank Martin said. “But we didn't run away from it. We finished it the right way. Hopefully we can build on that not just for this year, but also for the future.”

The victory secured UMass the No. 13 seed in this week’s Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Minutemen will play at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday (ESPN-Plus) against the No. 12 seed Richmond.

“Bottom line is there’s a day off on Friday. If you can figure out a way to get to the weekend, you’ve got a chance,” Frank Martin said.

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>