ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Mark Schmidt, exasperated, gently tapped the padded scorer’s table twice and looked up at the scoreboard to see what was once a huge St. Bonaventure advantage having been whittled down to where it was too close for comfort.

Though Schmidt’s Bonnies held on for a 65-56 Atlantic 10 basketball victory over Duquesne before 4,107 at the Reilly Center on Wednesday night, a second half lull resulted in tense moments.

Bona (10-9) improved to 4-2 in league play and sits one game back of 5-1 Dayton, Saint Louis and VCU at the top. That’s the good news.

But for as promising as that is for a young team, the Bonnies have much to clean up to stay near the top of the conference standings through March.

“At times we’re good, at times we’re not very good,” Schmidt acknowledged. “We have to continue to get better. It’s going to be like that. We want to play our best basketball at the end of the year. We certainly haven’t played our best basketball yet. We’re striving to do that.”

THE BONNIES were at their best in building a 20-3 lead over the game’s first 12 minutes, which proved too much for the Dukes (13-6, 3-3) to overcome. Bona led by as many as 20 points in the first half and re-established that lead at 53-33 on a Yann Farell 3-pointer with 12 minutes, 19 seconds remaining.

That’s when the inconsistent Bonnies returned and Duquesne’s comeback attempt began. Keith Dambrot’s team ripped off a 16-2 run to close the gap to 55-49 as Bona collected only a pair of free throws over a six-minute stretch.

The Dukes gained possession to further cut into the lead with 6 1/2 minutes left, but a Farell steal and bucket was the turning point. Duquesne never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

After the Bonnies connected on 15-of-24 field goals and 5-of-10 on 3-pointers in the first half, they went 7-of-26 in the second half with seven turnovers.

Schmidt attributed the poor shooting to missing open attempts.

“Those are the mistakes we can’t make,” he said. “When we have that layup, we have to make that layup. But we’re young and we’re still learning. Overall, I can’t complain. To beat Duquesne and hold them to 56 points, that’s a heckuva effort by our guys.”

BONA PLAYED some of its best defense late when the game was still in the balance. Trailing by seven with two minutes remaining, the Dukes missed their last four shots as well as two free throws.

“We have to make sure that even if we’re cold on the offensive end that we’re still taking care of our defensive end,” said Daryl Banks III, who led the Bonnies with 15 points. “Because if we’re not making shots and we’re not getting stops, that’s how they come back into the game.”

Banks added four assists and a season best four steals to spark the Bona defense.

“Just being active,” Banks said of his effort. “Coach said in practice that toughness on the 50-50 balls, rebounding, and taking charges was a big emphasis for this game. Just coming out with that energy and setting the tone early helped.”

The Bonnies started the game 11-of-14 from the field while Duquesne only connected on one of its first 14 attempts.

Chad Venning (12 points), Farrell (11), and Kyrell Luc (10) joined Banks in double figures. Venning chipped in four rebounds and two blocked shots, Farrell was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-3 on 3-pointers, and Luc added career best eight rebounds and four assists.

When Venning was on the floor, the Bonnies outscored the Dukes by 15.

“I really wasn’t focused on scoring,” said Venning, who was 5-of-11 from the floor. “I was honestly just trying to help our team win. It feels alright, but I feel I can contribute more.”

JIMMY Clark III (12 points, 3 steals), Tre Williams (11 points) and R.J. Gunn (10 points, 10 rebounds) led the Dukes, who shot 21-of-60 overall, 6-of-22 on 3-pointers, and 8-of-18 from the foul line.

The poor shooting effort resulted in Duquesne finishing 20 points under their season average. Dae Dae Grant, one of the A-10’s top scorers, was limited to four points and was 0-for-5 from the field.

“We made enough foul shots and made enough plays,” Schmidt said. “Our defense carried us.”

All of the nine Bonnies who played scored in the first half. Moses Flowers had five points and went over 1,000 for his career, which began with three seasons at Hartford.

The Bonnies have won 14 of the last 15 and 20 of their last 23 meetings with Duquesne. They also improved to 9-1 this season and 30-4 the last three years in the Reilly Center.{

Winless in six true road games this season, Bona plays at Loyola-Chicago at 4 p.m. Saturday.