A look around Atlantic 10 men's basketball Wednesday, with six scheduled games.
Don't forget to us Twitter hashtag #A10MBB when tweeting about tonight's games!
ON TAP FOR WEDNESDAY (2/6)
ST. BONAVENTURE Bonnies (10-10, 5-2) at No. 14/14 BUTLER Bulldogs (18-4, 5-2) 7:00 pm | Hinkle Fieldhouse | TW Cable Sports-NY/MyIndy-TV23 Series: First Meeting Gamenote: St. Bonaventure is the seventh consecutive Butler opponent making its first appearance in Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.
CHARLOTTE 49ers (17-4, 5-2) at TEMPLE Owls (14-7, 3-4) 7:00 pm | Liacouras Center Series: Temple leads 7-5 Gamenote: The Owls are a perfect 5-0 at the Liacouras Center against the 49ers, but are 1-4 at Charlotte. The teams will meet twice with Temple travelling to Charlotte for a Feb. 24 contest
Saint JOSEPH’s Hawks (13-7, 4-3) at DAYTON Flyers (12-9, 2-5) 7:00 pm | UD Arena | TW Cable Sports-Ohio/Comcast Network Series: Dayton leads 19-13 Gamenote: The Flyers have won two of the last three meetings, but SJU won last years’ meeting in Hagan Arena. The Hawks have lost seven in a row in UD Arena, last winning on Feb. 21, 2001.
GEORGE WASHINGTON Colonials (10-10, 4-3) at DUQUESNE Dukes (7-14, 0-7) 7:00 pm | A.J. Palumbo Center Series: GW leads 43-27 Gamenote: This is the 71st meeting in a series that dates to Jan. 21, 1932. GW leads 37-22 in A-10 regular season games. DU holds an 18-16 advantage in games played in Pittsburgh.
RHODE ISLAND Rams (6-14, 1-6) at MASSACHUSETTS Minutemen (14-6, 4-3) 7:00 pm | Mullins Center Series: UMass leads 80-58 Gamenote: UMass and Rhode Island will meet on the hardwood for the 139th time on Wednesday in the most-played series for the Minutemen. UMass leads 50-20 in games in Amherst.
SAINT LOUIS Billikens (14-6; 3-3) at FORDHAM Rams (12-7, 3-3) 8:00 pm | Rose Hill Gymnasium | CBS Sports Network Series: Saint Louis leads 7-1 Gamenote: The Billikens lead the all-time series, which started in 1971-72, and have won the past five meetings. The game is part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight
WEEKLIES
Above are the weekly highlights. The 16 A-10 head coaches had their weekly teleconference Monday. Listen to their thoughts by clicking on the AUDIO ARCHIVE.
ON THE TUBE
Wednesday, February 6 St. Bonaventure at Butler* | 7:00 pm | TW Cable Sports (NY) Saint Joseph’s at Dayton* | 7:00 pm | TW Sports (Ohio)/Comcast Network Saint Louis at Fordham* | 8:00 pm | CBS Sports Network
Saturday, February 9 Temple at Dayton* | 11:00 am | ESPNU Butler at George Washington* | 2:00 pm | CSN Mid-Atlantic Saint Joseph’s at Massachusetts* | 2:00 pm | ESPN2 St. Bonaventure at Rhode Island* | 2:00 pm | Ocean State Networks Xavier at Duquesne (CONSOL)* | 7:00 pm | TW Cable Sports (Ohio)/ROOT Sports
Wednesday, February 13 Charlotte at Butler* | 7:00 pm | MyIndy-TV23 Dayton at Rhode Island* | 7:00 pm | Ocean State Networks Fordham at Xavier* | 7:00 pm | TW Cable Sports (Ohio) Richmond at Saint Joseph’s* | 7:00 pm | The Comcast Network (Pa.)
A-10 SCOOP
>>The Atlantic 10 Conference named Temple senior Khalif Wyatt and VCU junior Juvonte Reddic its Co-Men’s Basketball Players of the Week and Fordham freshman Mandell Thomas its Rookie of the Week. The awards were announced Monday for games played during the week of Jan. 28 – Feb. 3.
>>The Atlantic 10 has five teams in Jerry Palm’s (CBSSports.com) latest Bracketology. He lists Butler, La Salle, Saint Louis, Temple and VCU. Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology also has the same five teams dancing.
>>Butler senior Andrew Smith was named to the five-player Capital One Academic All-Distict 5 Team. Butler has had a player on the Academic All-District team for seven consecutive seasons. He joined Temple graduate student T. J. DiLeo, who was named to the Capital One Academic All-Distict 2 Team. Both are now candidates to be named Capital One Academic All-American.
SATURDAY'S (2/2) RESULTS
CHARLOTTE 66, MASSACHUSETTS 65 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Victor Nickerson knocked down two go-ahead free throws with 1:16 left and Charlotte held on to beat Massachusetts 66-65 on Saturday.
A free throw by Willie Clayton pushed the 49ers lead to three points with 33 seconds remaining. Massachusetts cut the deficit to one point with 15 seconds left on Chaz Williams' layup.
The Minutemen had an opportunity to pull ahead after two missed free throws by Nickerson, but they could not come away with the victory after a turnover by Williams with 4 seconds to play.
Nickerson scored 12 points and Ivan Benkovic added 10 for Charlotte (17-4, 5-2 Atlantic 10 Conference), which won despite shooting 39.7 percent from the floor (23 of 58).
Terrell Vinson scored 23 points for Massachusetts, which shot 49 percent from the floor (25 of 51). But the Minutemen had 19 turnovers and shot 37.5 percent from the free throw line (6 of 16).
LA SALLE 80, GEORGE WASHINGTON 71 WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - Ramon Galloway and D.J. Peterson scored 15 points apiece to lead six players in double figures in La Salle's 80-71 victory over George Washington on Saturday.
Sam Mills and Jerrell Wright had 12 each, with Wright grabbing eight rebounds. Tyreek Duren and Tyrone Garland scored 11 apiece for La Salle (15-6, 5-3 Atlantic 10 Conference). Duren passed Larry Cannon for 15th place on the Explorers' all-time assists list with 352 and tied Shawn Smith for 10th on the career steals list with 165.
Isaiah Armwood led George Washington (10-10, 4-3) with 17 points and nine rebounds, Patricio Garino and Dwayne Smith had 11 each and Kevin Larsen chipped in 10. The Colonials had won three straight A-10 games coming in.
The Explorers knocked down 11 of 25 from beyond the arc to the Colonials' 3 of 11, and La Salle scored 24 points off turnovers to George Washington's six.
SAINT LOUIS 81, DAYTON 52 ST. LOUIS (AP) - Rob Loe scored 17 points and Dwayne Evans had 15 as Saint Louis defeated Dayton 81-52 Saturday.
The Billikens (16-5, 5-2 Atlantic 10), coming off a 75-58 upset of No. 9 Butler on Thursday, won their fourth straight game by shooting 51 percent from the floor, making 9 of 22 3-pointers and taking advantage of 21 turnovers by the Flyers (12-9, 2-5).
Kwamain Mitchell added 12 points for Saint Louis, and Jordair Jett had 11 points and six assists.
Dayton got 12 points from Josh Benson and 10 from Vee Sanford. The 29-point loss matched the Flyers' largest margin of defeat in Atlantic 10 play, equaling a 97-68 loss to Rhode Island on Jan. 4, 1997.
The Billikens led by as many as 22 points in the first half, when Dayton went scoreless for seven minutes covering 12 possessions.
ST. BONAVENTURE 68, DUQUESNE 60
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (AP) - Eric Mosley scored 14 points and led St. Bonaventure as it hit 54.5 percent from 3-point range in handing Duquesne its ninth consecutive loss, 68-60, in Atlantic 10 Conference play Saturday.
The Bonnies (10-10, 3-4) were 12-of-22 shooting from deep, including a 4-of-7 showing by Mosley, who is making 43.7 percent of his 3-point attempts this year.
Jordan Gathers added 13 points on 3-of-3 3-point shooting and Demitrius Conger had 11 for St. Bonaventure, which has won three of its past four since snapping a six-game losing streak.
Sean Johnson, Jeremiah Jones and Kadeem Pantophlet each had 11 points for the Dukes (7-14, 0-7), who have lost seven straight on the road. Derrick Colter added seven assists, including his 100th of the season, making him the eighth Duquesne freshman to reach the plateau during his rookie season.
The Bonnies opened with a 22-13 advantage and led the rest of the way.
No. 9 BUTLER 75, RHODE ISLAND 68
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Rotnei Clarke scored 23 points, Roosevelt Jones added 18 and No. 9 Butler beat Rhode Island 75-68 on Saturday.
Clarke scored 12 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half. The Bulldogs (18-4, 5-2 Atlantic 10) trailed 32-30 at the break, then went on a 15-3 run.
Nikola Malesecix led Rhode Island (6-14, 1-6) with 18 points in the Rams' fourth straight loss.
SAINT JOSEPH'S 70, TEMPLE 69
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Ronald Roberts scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots as Saint Joseph's rallied from a nine-point deficit to edge Temple 70-69 Saturday night.
Two 3-pointers by Carl Jones started an 18-5 run for the Hawks (13-7, 4-3 Atlantic 10 Conference), who trailed their local rival 61-52 with 5:39 left.
C.J. Aiken put Saint Joseph's ahead 68-66 with a layup off a lob from Halil Kanacevic at the 25-second mark.
After two free throws by Kanacevic, Khalif Wyatt's 3-pointer for the Owls (14-7, 3-4) made it a one-point game. Wyatt finished with a career-best 34 points and made 7 of 14 3-pointers.
Jones missed a free throw, but Wyatt had the ball go off Saint Joseph's on a drive, then couldn't hit a final shot with time running out.
Jones and Aiken scored 16 points each for Saint Joseph's. Kanacevic had 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
VCU 81, FORDHAM 65
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Troy Daniels scored 29 points, including 13 during a 15-3 second-half run Saturday night, and Virginia Commonwealth overcame a sluggish start, turned 22 turnovers into 32 points and beat Fordham 81-65.
Treveon Graham added 15 points and Juvonte Reddic 11 for VCU (18-5, 6-2 Atlantic 10 Conference), which led by only eight until Daniels' jumper started the burst with 16:20 to play. Reddic hit a free throw, and Daniels scored on a layup before making three 3-pointers in the span of a minute to make it 59-40.
Bryan Smith scored 17 points and Mandell Thomas 16 for Fordham (6-15, 2-5), which again played without injured senior forward Chris Gaston because of injury. The Rams have lost five of their last six.
Daniels finished with seven 3-pointers, his fifth game with at least seven this season.
RICHMOND 73, XAVIER 71
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Kendall Anthony led five Richmond players in double figures with 16 points to beat Xavier 73-71 Saturday night in an Atlantic 10 Conference showdown.
Alonzo Nelson-Ododa and Darien Brothers scored 13 points apiece, Cedrick Lindsay added 12 and Greg Robbins had 10 for Richmond (14-9, 4-4).
It was a tightly contested match consisting of 15 lead changes, nine ties and neither team having more than a single-digit advantage in the second half.
Lindsay made two free throws for Richmond to cut its deficit to 59-58 with 4:14 left and then Robbins' 3-pointer at the 3:30 mark put the Spiders ahead for good.
Xavier (12-9, 5-3) cut the lead to one, 68-67, behind Dee Davis' 3-pointer with 10 seconds left, but Richmond made 5 of 6 free throws the rest of the way to hold off the Musketeers.
Travis Taylor led Xavier with 24 points and eight rebounds.
