A quick look around Atlantic 10 men's basketball for Thursday, Jan. 16, including Wednesday's fantastic finishes and a look at tonight's two A-10 games.
ON TAP FOR THURSDAY (1/17)
DUQUESNE Dukes (7-9, 0-2)
at MASSACHUSETTS Minutemen (11-4, 1-1)
7:00 pm | Mullins Center | CBS Sports Network
Series: UMass leads 35-25
Gamenote: The teams have split the last four games, with UMass claiming the most recent contest, 92-83, in Amherst in last year’s A-10 Championship First Round at the Mullins Center.
SAINT JOSEPH’S Hawks (9-5, 1-1)
at No. 22/19 VCU Rams (14-3, 2-0)
9:00 pm | Seigel Center | CBS Sports Network
Series: Series tied 1-1
Gamenote: This is the third meeting between the two schools. The last meeting game during the 1982-83 season with VCU picking up a 75-64 on Dec. 4, 1982 at the Richmond Coliseum.
WEEKLIES
The 16 A-10 head coaches had their second weekly teleconference Monday. Listen to their thoughts on the first week of league play by clicking on the AUDIO ARCHIVE
Watch the weekly A-10 video highlights for men's and women's basketball on the A-10 WEBSITE or on YOUTUBE
ON THE TUBE
Thursday, January 17Duquesne at Massachusetts* | 7:00 pm | CBS Sports Network
Saint Joseph’s at VCU* | 9:00 pm | CBS Sports Network
Saturday, January 19St. Bonaventure at Temple* | 1:00 pm | CBS Sports Network
La Salle at Xavier* | 2:00 pm | TW Cable Sports (Ohio)
Penn at Saint Joseph’s (Palestra) | 5:00 pm | ESPNU
Gonzaga at Butler | 9:00 pm | ESPN
A-10 SCOOP
>>VCU cracked the AP poll this week to give the A-10 two teams ranked in both polls. Butler is No. 13 in both the AP Poll and Coaches’ Poll. In addition, the A-10 has four other teams that have received votes in the AP and ESPN/USA TODAY Coaches Polls. Saint Joseph’s, Saint Louis, Temple, and Xavier have all gotten votes in both polls. This week Temple continues to receive votes.
>>The Atlantic 10 has five teams in Jerry Palm’s (CBSSports.com) latest Bracketology. he lists Butler, Charlotte, Saint Louis, Temple and VCU. Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology has three A-10 teams dancing. Butler, VCU, Temple are all in and Saint Louis is among his four teams listed as “first out.”
>>The A-10 has six teams with multiple-game winning streaks and two of those, Butler and VCU, have won more than 10 striaght. Butler won its 12th in a row Wednesday against Richmond, which VCU will try to match tonight agianst Saint Joseph’s. Charlotte has now won four straight and Xavier has won three consecutive games.
>>Saint Joseph’s junior forward Halil Kanacevic will not be available for the Hawks’ next few games due to a death in his family. Kanacevic’s maternal uncle passed away last week and he is accompanying his parents to their homeland of Montenegro.
>>Duquesne freshman guard Derrick Colter, who has scored in double digits in his past eight games (17.0 points per game over that span), is currently tied with Sean Johnson for the team scoring lead at 13.3 ppg. and leads the team in assists (80/5.0 assists per game). Only four players in school history have led the Dukes in scoring and assists – and all were seniors: Aaron Jackson (19.3/5.7 in 2009), Bryant McAllister (19.7/4.8 in 2006), Courtney Wallace (16.6/3.4 in 2001) and Mike James (17.5/3.5 in 1998).
WEDNESDAY'S (1/16) RESULTS
XAVIER 66, ST. BONAVENTURE 64 | HIGHLIGHTS | SPORTSCENTER TOP 10 VIDEO
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (AP) - Semaj Christon posted his first career double-double and hit a game-winning driving jumper with 5.1 seconds remaining to lift Xavier over St. Bonaventure 66-64 in a tightly-contested Atlantic 10 game Wednesday night.
Youssou Ndoye connected on 1-of-2 free throws for the Bonnies with 26.2 seconds left to tie the score at 64-all, but Christon drove the lane on Xavier's (10-6, 3-0) ensuing possession and converted the game-winner. St. Bonaventure had a chance to re-tie the game, but Charlon Kloof's shot was blocked by the Musketeers' Landen Amos at the buzzer.
Ndoye netted a career-high 16 points off the bench to lead the Bonnies.
St. Bonaventure (7-9, 0-3) led 59-54 with four minutes remaining after a Marquise Simmons layup, but Christon stepped up, scoring eight of his game-high 19 points over the final 3:52.
Christon, a freshman, dished out 10 assists, and Brad Redford added 17 points for Xavier.
TEMPLE 55, GEORGE WASHINGTON 53 | GW HIGHLIGHTS & POSTGAME | TU PLAYERS POSTGAME | DUNPHY POSTGAME
WASHINGTON (AP) - Khalif Wyatt hit a go-ahead free throw with 2:03 remaining and Temple closed on an 8-0 run that spanned the final 6:42 in a 55-53 win over George Washington Wednesday night.
Wyatt hit two free throws with 2:03 left for a 54-53 lead. The senior scored 18 points as the Owls (12-4, 2-1 Atlantic 10 Conference) beat the Colonials for the sixth straight time.
George Washington (7-9, 1-2) missed 11 field-goal attempts and three free throws after Isaiah Armwood's layup put the Colonials ahead 53-45 with 7:53 left.
Temple's Jake O'Brien, who scored 10 points, started the 8-0 run with a jumper and a 3-pointer.
Armwood led George Washington with 13 points and nine rebounds. The loss snapped a four-game home winning streak for the Colonials.
The loss marked George Washington's second consecutive second-half collapse against Temple. It blew a 49-34 second-half lead in a 79-72 loss Feb. 8, 2012.
No. 13 BUTLER 62, RICHMOND 47 | BU HIGHLIGHTS | BU POSTGAME | UR HIGHLIGHTS | UR POSTGAME
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Andrew Smith scored 15 points, Kellen Dunham added 11 and No. 13 Butler used a stifling defense to pull away from Richmond for a 62-47 victory in its first Atlantic 10 Conference home game Wednesday night.
Butler (15-2, 3-0), which has won 12 straight overall, was without leading scorer Rotnei Clarke due to a severely sprained neck. Without Clarke, the Bulldogs relied on a defense that held the Spiders to a season-low 32.7 percent shooting.
Richmond (11-7, 1-2) was led by Darien Brothers with 12 points but has lost two straight and five of its last seven. The Spiders were playing without their second-leading scorer, Derrick Williams, who missed his fourth straight game with a sprained ankle.
Butler made it look easy, using first-half runs of 7-0 and 8-0 to take a 33-21 halftime lead and never let the Spiders get closer than nine in the second half.
LA SALLE 72, DAYTON 70 | LA SALLE HIGHLIGHTS & POSTGAME | DAYTON HIGHLIGHTS | MILLER POSTGAME | SPORTSCENTER TOP 10 VIDEO
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Ramon Galloway scored 18 points to lead La Salle past Dayton 72-70 Wednesday night in an Atlantic 10 Conference matchup.
Jerrell Wright scored 16, and Tyreek Duren crossed the 1,000th career-point mark, finishing with 14 points and six steals for La Salle (12-4, 2-1).
Following two Galloway free throws and a layup by Duren to put the Explorers up 69-65 with a minute left, the Flyers' Matt Derenbecker cut the lead to 69-67 on two free throws with 38 seconds remaining.
After two free throws from Galloway extended the lead to 71-67, Kevin Dillard answered for Dayton with a 3-pointer, making it a one-point game, 71-70, with 6 seconds remaining.
Tyrone Garland's free throw pushed La Salle's lead to 72-70 with 5 seconds left, and Dillard missed a late 3-pointer to seal the victory for La Salle.
Dyshawn Pierre and Vee Sanford scored 13 apiece for Dayton (10-7, 0-3).
CHARLOTTE 74, FORDHAM 68 | HIGHLIGHTS | POSTGAME
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - DeMario Mayfield scored 18 points off the bench to help Charlotte beat Fordham 74-68 Wednesday night in an Atlantic 10 matchup.
JT Thompson went 4 of 4 from the field and made all four free throws for 12 points, and Darion Clark added 11 points to help Charlotte (15-2, 3-0) win its fourth consecutive game.
Mayfield, Thompson and Clark helped the 49ers outscore Fordham 44-16 in bench points.
Trailing at halftime 31-27, Fordham took a 45-43 lead on Branden Frazier's dunk with 11:47 left to play.
Charlotte answered tying the game on Thompson's jumper, then took the lead for good when Mayfield's 3-pointer made it 48-45 at the 10:50 mark.
Fordham (5-13, 1-2) kept it close, getting within two points, 65-63 with 1:21 remaining, but Mayfield and Pierria Henry converted 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
Frazier scored 23 points for the Rams.
