Three years later, the two are bringing some new teammates along for the ride at St. Bonaventure.

Lofton scored a game-high 23 points and handed out six assists while Osunniyi had 14 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots as the top-seeded Bonnies held off No. 2 VCU for a 74-65 victory in the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game Sunday afternoon at UD Arena.

“It like a dream come true,” said Lofton, who was named to the All-Tournament team. “Since kids we’ve been working for this.”

“Since Day 1, we haven’t listened to the outside noise,” said Osunniyi, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. ” … We’re worried about us, the guys in our locker room and our coaching staff.”

AP Photo St. Bonaventure’s Jaren Holmes, left, and Alpha Okoli celebrate after beating VCU in the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game Sunday in Dayton, Ohio.

The win secures the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament for St. Bonaventure, which will be seeded No. 9 in the East Region and take on No. 8 LSU in Saturday’s First Round in Indianapolis.

“I told the team before the season started, I thought the teams that were able to handle the adversity … were the teams that were going to be successful,” St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said. ” … Basketball was really important and they held themselves accountable.”

Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland — the conference’s Player of the Year — led the Rams with 21 points while Vince Williams Jr. had 12 points and nine rebounds.

VCU earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament later Sunday and will be the No. 10 seed in the West Region. The Rams will take on No. 7 Oregon in Saturday’s First Round.

“We put all of our eggs into this basket to win a championship and cut down the net, and we didn’t do that,” VCU head coach Mike Rhoades said. ” … At the end of the day today we’re going to get on a bus and go to Indianapolis because we had a season that put us in the NCAA Tournament.”

AP Photo St. Bonaventure’s Osun Osunniyi, right, blocks the shot of VCU’s Jamir Watkins during the first half of the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game Sunday in Dayton, Ohio.

All-Tournament team selection Jalen Adaway was the offensive star in the first half for the Bonnies on Sunday with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, as his team took a 32-25 lead into intermission.

St. Bonaventure was helped by the fact that Hyland picked up his third foul less than seven minutes into the game and found himself on the bench for the remainder of the first half.

“We’ve played with ‘Bones’ out before, but in this game and out that long because of fouls, it affects you,” Rhoades said. “It affected us too much to be honest with you.”

The Bonnies led by two when Hyland left the game and their lead ballooned to as many as eight with 1:35 left before halftime.

“The goal was to try and deny him the ball as much as you can,” Schmidt said, “and make it difficult for him.”

St. Bonaventure grew its lead to 11 early in the second half before Hyland finally got on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws.

“We got more aggressive. In the first half and even in the beginning of the second half we were just standing around, dribbling around,” Rhodes said. “At least in the second half, we were moving more and getting downhill.”

With 11:26 remaining, Lofton was fouled on a missed 3-point attempt and double-technical fouls were called on the Bonnies’ Dominick Welch and VCU’s Hason Ward during the ensuing timeout.

Lofton’s five free throws and a jumper from Osunniyi resulted in a 7-2 run for St. Bonaventure and its largest lead of the game at 17.

“He’s everything. He’s the quarterback. He handles the pressure and gets us into sets,” Schmidt said of Lofton. “He’s invaluable. … Without Kyle on the court, we struggle.”

But the Rams didn’t go quietly. They eventually cut their deficit to 10 on an 8-2 run from Hyland and Williams before a Jalen Shaw putback for the Bonnies with Osunniyi on the bench after his fourth foul.

“We talked about getting clean rebounds,” Rhodes said. ” … I didn’t think we blocked out or had rotational rebounding late in that game.”

Osunniyi returned and quickly made an impact with a putback, and Welch later converted another putback as St. Bonaventure kept VCU at bay.

“Being on the bench for a few minutes, I was itching to get back in,” Osunniyi said. “Coach trusted me … to go in there and not pick up my fifth foul. That’s what I did and helped finish the game out.”

Finally, with 1:46 remaining and a nine-point lead, the Bonnies forced a turnover at one end of the floor, used up the entire shot clock, and Welch hit an off-balance 3-pointer with 1:16 remaining to give his team a 12-point lead and essentially secure the title.

“We made plays when we needed to make plays,” Schmidt said. ” … There’s a lot of good things happening today. I’m just so proud of our players.”

NOTES: St. Bonaventure became the fifth No. 1 seed to win the A-10 Tournament, and first since Saint Louis in 2013. … This is the first time in school history that the Bonnies have won the regular-season title and tournament championship in the same year. … St. Bonaventure last appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2018 when it beat UCLA in the First Four before losing to Florida in the First Round.

VCU (65)

Williams Jr. 4-11 2-4 12, Stockard III 2-4 0-0 4, Ward 2-3 0-0 4, Baldwin Jr. 2-8 1-2 6, Hyland 4-11 11-12 21, Watkins 2-9 0-0 4, Brown-Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Douglas Jr. 2-2 0-0 4, Banks 4-4 1-2 10, Medley-Bacon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-54 15-20 65.

ST. BONAVENTURE (74)

Adaway 3-12 2-3 10, Osunniyi 5-6 4-5 14, Lofton 6-14 7-7 23, Welch 6-11 0-1 13, Holmes 3-16 3-4 9, Vasquez 1-2 0-0 3, Shaw 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-62 16-20 74.

Halftime–St. Bonaventure 32, VCU 25. 3-point goals–VCU 6-18 (Williams Jr. 2-6, Baldwin Jr. 1-3, Hyland 2-6, Watkins 0-2, Banks 1-1), St. Bonaventure 8-19 (Adaway 2-2, Lofton 4-5, Welch 1-4, Holmes 0-6, Vasquez 1-2). Total rebounds–VCU 32 (Williams Jr. 9), St. Bonaventure 42 (Osunniyi 12). Assists–VCU 9 (Baldwin Jr. 3), St. Bonaventure 12 (Lofton 6). Total fouls–VCU 18, St. Bonaventure 15. Technical fouls–Ward, Welch.