March 13, 2008

#6 Charlotte 75, #11 Rhode Island 73

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)--Michael Gerrity hit two free throws after a questionable foul call with less than a second to play and Charlotte rallied from a late five-point deficit to beat Rhode Island 75-73 in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament Wednesday night.

Leemire Goldwire hit three clutch late 3-pointers and scored 23 points as the sixth-seeded 49ers advanced to a quarterfinal against third-seeded Massachusetts (21-9) on Thursday night.

An'Juan Wilderness added 14 points, Charlie Coley had 11, including two big free throws to tie the game, and Gerrity finished with 10 in the game the officials made two big calls against Rhode Island in the final minute.

Jimmy Baron had 25 points to lead the Rams, who fell to 21-11 after losing for the eighth time in the last 10 games. Will Daniels had 15 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 37.7 seconds to play.

Charlotte (19-12) trailed by five entering the second half and did not tie the game until Charlie Coley, a 53 percent free throw shooter, made two attempts from the line with 37.7 seconds to play.

Rhode Island called two time outs over the next 22 seconds. After the second time out, the Rams were working the ball up high when Kahiem Seawright was called for an offensive foul on a screen with 8.2 seconds to go.

After a time out, Gerrity took the inbounds pass in the backcourt, dribbled to the front court and made a move to the basket, where he was fouled by Keith Cothran with .3 seconds on the clock.

Rhode Island coach Jim Baron held his head in disbelief after the call by Will Bush.

Gerrity made both free throws to give Charlotte its only lead in the half.

The 49ers had pulled to within a point on five different occasions, twice failing to tie the game when Ian Anderson and Lamont Mack missed the front ends of 1-and-1 opportunities.

#7 La Salle 82, #10 Duquesne 79

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)--Rodney Green hit a go-ahead free throw with 23.8 seconds to play and La Salle rallied from a late seven-point deficit to beat Duquesne 82-79 in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament on Wednesday night.

Darnell Harris hit a 27-foot 3-pointer to tie the game at 79 with under a minute to play, and Ruben Guillandeaux added two free throws with 13 seconds left as the seventh-seeded Explorers (15-16) survived a game-tying 3-point attempt by Gary Tucker.

Green scored 22 points and Harris had 21 for La Salle, which will play second-seeded Temple (18-12) in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Owls crushed the Explorers 85-66 on Saturday.

Reggie Jackson had a career-high 29 points for 10th-seeded Duquesne (17-13), which had a 72-65 with less than six minutes to play.

La Salle used 9-2 spurt to tie the game at 74 on a shot in the lane by Jerrell Williams with 2:36 to play. And a jumper by Shawn James of Duquesne and two free throws by Harris tied the game at 76.

Jackson, whose previous high of 25 came against Temple last week, nailed a 3-pointer for a 79-76 lead with 1:47 to play.

Green was called for a charge on La Salle's next possession, but Jackson lost control of the ball on a drive to the basket.

After calling a time out to call a play, Harris launched a 3-pointer from almost in front of his coach sitting on the bench to tie the game with 57.2 seconds to go.

Jackson had another turnover on Duquesne's next possession, and Green was later fouled in the lane. He missed the first free throw and made the second.

Kojo Mensah and Kieron Achara had a mix-up on Duquesne's next possession and Mensah's pass went out of bounds in front of his own bench.

Guillandeaux was fouled and made his free throws and Tucker could not convert his last 3-point shot with about :04 to play. Duquesne got the rebound but it could not get off another shot.

#5 Saint Joseph's 80, #12 Fordham 62

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - Courtesy of sjuhawks.com - Pat Calathes had 23 points and seven rebounds and Saint Jospeh's used a 21-3 first-half run to break the game open en route to an 80-62 win over Fordham in a first-round Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament game Wednesday at Boardwalk Hall.

Tasheed Carr shot 7-for-7 and had 16 points and seven assists for the 5th-seeded Hawks (19-11), which will meet 4th-seeded Richmond (16-13) in a quarterfinal game Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

Calathes was 9-for-12 from the field and the Hawks shot 57 percent in posting their second win over the 12th-seeded Rams this season. Rob Ferguson added 12 points and Ahmad Nivins had 10 for SJU, which led by as many as 29 points in the second half.

Bryant Dunston led Fordham (12-17) with 17 points, while Michael Binns had 15 points and seven rebounds and Marcus Stout added 13 points. It was the final game for all three seniors.

With the Hawks holding a 19-16 lead, a three-point play by Garrett Williamson started Saint Joseph's on a 21-3 run that opened a 40-19 lead with 3:13 left in the half. Carr hit two 3-pointers in the run and Calathes, Ferguson and Williamson and Williamson had one each.

#8 Dayton 63, #9 Saint Louis 62 (OT)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Courtesy of daytonflyers.com - Sophomore Marcus Johnson scored eight of his team-high 16 points in overtime to help the Dayton Flyers hold on for a 63-62 victory over the Saint Louis Billikens in the opening round of the 2008 Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Dayton moves on to the quarterfinals of the A-10 Tournament with a showdown against the Xavier Musketeers on Thursday, March 13 at noon ET. Thursday's meeting will be the third time this season the Flyers and Musketeers will have met this season.

Redshirt sophomore Mickey Perry added a career-high 11 points as the Flyers advanced to the quarterfinals with yet another game of balanced scoring and some hard-nosed defense.

Senior Andres Sandoval scored 10 points, junior Charles Little tallied eight points and six rebounds and senior Jimmy Binnie collected six points and five rebounds as UD wins its fourth straight and improves their overall record to 21-9.

Dayton's leading scorer and a First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection, Brian Roberts, was held in check with just five points, 14 below his season average.

The Flyer defense, which held its 10th straight opponent shooting below 50 percent, forced the Billikens to commit 18 turnovers and allowed only five offensive rebounds.

It almost didn't come to fruition as Dayton let the 11-point second half lead evaporate thanks to turnovers and failing to convert at the free throw line. UD finished the game converting just 4-of-12 free throw attempts.

UD led 34-25 at halftime thanks to a multitude of scorers. Perry had nine, Johnson added eight and Sandoval tallied seven. Roberts fired only two shots and finished the half with three points. Dayton shot 48 percent from the field and converted 6-of-12 three point attempts with Johnson hitting both shots.

But the Billikens opened the second half on a 5-2 run thanks to the Flyers picking up seven team fouls in the first six minutes of play. A putback by Little and a three-point play by London Warren extended the UD lead to 40-30.

Both teams traded baskets until Perry converted a reverse lay-up and a two Little bank shots extended the Flyers lead to 49-38 with 6:29 to play.

Saint Louis took advantage of the UD miscues and responded with a 12-5 run of its own and cut the deficit to 54-50 with 2:15 to play. Two more Dayton turnovers in their own end allowed the Billikens to crawl back into the game. But a missed three-pointer and a defensive rebound by Little allowed Sandoval to convert a free throw and extend the lead to five with a minute and a half remaining.

The Billikens cut the lead back to three at 55-52 after a lay-up with 1:06 remaining. Saint Louis tied the game at 55-55 with a three-pointer with 51 seconds in regulation.

Roberts had a lay-up waved off after drawing an offensive foul with 21 seconds left. But a steal by Warren and a desperation three attempt by Sandoval that just missed kept the game tied at 55-55 into overtime.

Johnson, who scored in double-figures for the third time in the month of March, opened the overtime with a shot that rolled into the bucket putting the Flyers ahead by two. Liddell made a three-pointer from the left wing to put the Billikens ahead for the first time at 58-57.

Johnson added another three-pointer to help UD regain the lead at 60-58. After a made Billiken free throw, the Flyers held strong on the defensive end allowing Johnson to hit one foul shot of his own to keep the UD lead at two with 1:12 in the first overtime.

On the ensuing possession, Saint Louis regained the lead at 62-61 with a three-point play. Johnson added a runner in the lane to put the Flyers back on top at 63-62 with 32 seconds to go. A missed shot from the left wing allowed the Flyers to continue on in the tournament.

NOTES
Four of the last six Dayton-Saint Louis games have gone into overtime with two of them this season...Mickey Perry surpassed his season and career high in points with nine in the first half alone...although UD is 13th in the A-10 in blocks, the Flyers have recorded a block in 10 consecutive games...the Flyers improved their overall record to 14-11 in the tournament, and are 7-3 in the first round...Brian Roberts extended his streak of consecutive games with a made three-point field goal to 53. Roberts needs just 11 three-point field goals to eclipse Tony Stanley's 291 for first on the all-time list...UD improved to 3-1 in overtime this season.