Feature photo courtesy of gobonnies.com

The last domino has fallen in that of the five seniors who have all left St. Bonaventure to pursue either professional basketball careers, or play-out their final year of eligibility elsewhere. Buffalo native Dominick Welch announced last week that he would be signing with Alabama for his final season, and will play under former University at Buffalo Head Coach Nate Oats.

Welch, a 6-foot-5 wing who played four years at St. Bonaventure, improving in each and every one of those seasons, averaged 12.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 steals as a senior as the Bonnies reached the NIT Final Four. He scored 1,198 points in his Bona career and finished third in program history in made threes (257).

“We are excited to have Dom join our program,” Oats said in an Alabama press release. “He is a versatile wing who has experience and can really score the ball. He was one of the top shooters in the A-10 leading the league in threes made per game last year, so we expect him to thrive in our system. Dom is originally from Buffalo, so we were able to make an immediate connection. He is also someone who is going to come in and earn his playing time. He’s a four-year starter and has had a lot of success both from a team and an individual standpoint. He has impacted winning in a big way, helping St. Bonaventure to 76 wins in the last four years which shows that he cares about doing what needs to be done to help his team win. Combine all those factors with the fact that Dom is a terrific young man off the court, we feel he is the perfect fit for what our program needed.”

Welch played his high school basketball at Cheektowaga and is the all-time leading scorer in Western New York boys basketball history. He finished his high school career with 2,376 points and averaged 30.4 points and 12.2 rebounds as a senior and scored 51 in his final game. Following Cheektowaga, Welch played one season at Spire Academy.

Joining Welch as Bonaventure transfers are Osun Osunniyi and Jaren Holmes who both committed to Iowa State, and Kyle Lofton who committed to Florida. Jalen Adaway is turning pro.