COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team returned home for the first time in nearly a month with an 84-74 setback to Dominican (N.Y.) College on Friday in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights, who hosted the Chargers for the first time in three all-time meetings, are 1-10, while Dominican is 8-5. Saint Michael's, which opened a four-game homestand that will take place over a nine-day span, played for the first time since Dec. 19, and at home for the first time since Dec. 3.

Senior David Sullivan (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Saint Augustine Prep) dropped 29 points, his third career-high scoring output in the last four games, thanks to 10-of-14 shooting from the field and a 9-of-11 effort at the charity stripe. He also hauled down a career-high seven rebounds, including four offensive. Sophomore Levi Holmes III (East Brunswick, N.J./Rutgers Prep) scored nine points, and senior Matt Bonds (Accokeek, Md./North Point) totaled eight points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sophomore Winston Jones II (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream Central) collected seven points and five boards, senior Zaire Williams (Paterson, N.J./Newark Academy) had seven points and three assists, while junior Bruno Beča (Zagreb, Croatia/Westchester Country Day School) grabbed a career-best seven caroms. Saint Michael's hit its first 18 free throw tries and finished 21-of-24.

During the contest, Bonds became the first Purple Knight to reach the 900-rebound plateau for a career in 42 seasons, pushing his total to 905 and passing Ed Kryger '65 (899) to take over fourth in program history. Ken Johnson '76 had been the last Saint Michael's player to hit 900, in 1974-75. Bonds is the 15th player in Northeast-10 Conference history with 900 boards, and just the second active male across the NCAA's three divisions.

Junior Gerrel Irvin paced Dominican with 24 points, nine rebounds and three steals, and sophomore E.J. Smith and Daniel Grant both turned in 12 points, with Grant adding four steals and three assists. The Chargers held a 33-15 advantage in points off of turnovers.

Twelve lead changes and seven ties occurred in the opening half alone, as Sullivan's lay-in with 11:53 to go provided the Purple Knights their largest advantage of the stanza, 16-12. Irvin netted the final five points of a go-ahead 7-0 response, and the hosts later went back up by four, 28-24, on Bonds' steal and breakaway dunk at 5:24. Irvin notched the first five points of another 7-0 run that put the Chargers ahead, but the Purple and Gold carried a 38-37 edge into the locker room on Jones' putback just before the buzzer.

The final three ties and lead changes took place in the first 5:58 of the second stanza, and Sullivan scored seven points during a 2:07 stretch to key a 9-2 jaunt that had the Purple Knights up 49-44 with 15:38 to go. By the time 8:39 remained, Dominican had used a 25-4 run to lead by 16, with Smith scoring nine points, including the three-pointer that put the visitors up for good. Sullivan's three-point play at 7:22 cut the deficit to 69-58, and Bonds' board gave the hosts a chance to cut the hole to single digits, but an outlet pass was turned over, and the Chargers hit four quick free throws. They never again led by fewer than 13 points.

The Purple Knights host New York Institute of Technology on Monday at 1 p.m.