A look around Atlantic 10 men's basketball Wednesday, with five scheduled games.
Don't forget to us Twitter hashtag #A10MBB when tweeting about tonight's games!
ON TAP FOR WEDNESDAY (2/13)
CHARLOTTE 49ers (17-6, 5-4) at No. 11/10 BUTLER Bulldogs (20-4, 7-2) 7:00 pm | Hinkle Fieldhouse | MyIndy-TV23 Series: Charlotte leads 2-1 Gamenote: Butler and Charlotte are meeting for the first time since 1993. The 49ers won the last meeting in the first round of the Cable Car Classic in Santa Clara. In the only previous meeting at Hinkle Fieldhouse , BU guard Tim Bowen hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for an upset of No. 17-ranked Charlotte, under head coach and current Athletic Director Barry Collier.
DAYTON Flyers (13-10, 3-6) at RHODE ISLAND Rams (6-16, 1-8) 7:00 pm | Ryan Center | Ocean State Networks Series: Dayton leads 12-11 Gamenote: Rhode Island has captured five straight (their longest streak and seven of the last 10 meetings against Dayton. Last year Rhody won in Dayton, 86-81. The Flyers have not won at the Ryan Center since Jan. 27, 2005 and UD’s last win over Rhody was on Jan. 9, 2008, a 92-83 Flyer victory. URI is 6-4 at home all-time against Dayton.
FORDHAM Rams (6-18, 2-7) at XAVIER Musketeers (13-9, 6-3) 7:00 pm | Cintas Center | Time Warner Cable Sports (Ohio) Series: Xavier leads 22-3 Gamenote: Xavier has won 10 straight 21 wins in the last 22 meetings with Fordham. XU won 67-59 last season at Fordham. The Rams have never won at Cintas Center (7-0). This game is part of the Jesuit Basketball Spotlight (JBS) project. Xavier and Fordham are both Jesuit universities, as are fellow Atlantic 10 Conference members Fordham, Saint Joseph’s and Saint Louis.
LA SALLE Explorers (16-6, 6-3) at St. BONAVENTURE Bonnies (11-11, 4-5) 7:00 pm | Reilly Center Series: La Salle leads 13-11 Gamenote: La Salle has won the last two meetings between the teams. Only once since La Salle joined the A-10 in 1995-96 has St. Bonaventure defeated all three Philadelphia-based schools in the same regular season, (1999-2000). The Bonnies already have wins over Temple and Saint Joseph’s this season (both in Philadelphia).
RICHMOND Spiders (14-10; 4-5) at SAINT JOSEPH’S Hawks (13-9, 4-5) 7:00 pm | Hagan Arena | The Comcast Network (Pa.) Series: Saint Joseph’s leads 14-6 Gamenote: The teams split the series last year with each winning on the opponent’s homecourt. Richmond has won three in a row at Hagan Arena, but prior to that, Richmond lost its first 7 visits to Saint Joseph’s. Saint Joseph’s last win over the Spiders in Philadelphia was on Jan. 12, 2008, an 81-63 decision. UR coach Chris Mooney is a native of North Philadelphia.
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 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.)
Thursday, February 14 Massachusetts at VCU* | 9:00 pm | CBS Sports Network
Saturday, February 16 Xavier at Dayton* | Noon | ESPN2 Saint Joseph’s at La Salle (Palestra)* | 1:00 pm | NBC Sports Network Butler at Fordham* | 4:00 pm | CBS Sports Network Temple at Massachusetts* | 6:00 pm | CBS Sports Network Charlotte at Saint Louis* | 7:00 pm | FOX Sports Midwest George Washington at VCU* | 7:30 pm | CSN Mid-Atlantic
A-10 SCOOP
>>The Atlantic 10 currently has 10 teams in the top 80 of the RPI, (RPIRatings.com) which is the second most of any league behind the Big East (11).
>>The Atlantic 10 has five teams in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology. He lists Butler, La Salle, Saint Louis, Temple and VCU. Jerry Palm’s (CBSSports.com) latest bracketology also has the same five teams dancing.
>>Charlotte has already won 17 games, surpassing the win total for 2010-11 (10) and 2011-12 (13). The Niners are just two wins from tying the 2009-10 season and three wins from reaching 20 for the first time since 2007-08. The 17 wins is also the most wins by the 49ers under Alan Major.
>>The A-10 has one team in the Top 25 in both national polls. Butler is No. 11 in the AP Poll and No. 10 in the Coaches’ Poll. In addition, the A-10 has six other teams that have received votes in the AP and ESPN/USA TODAY Coaches Polls. La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, Temple, and Xavier have all gotten votes in both polls as have Saint Louis and VCU which are receiving votes this week.
>>Butler senior Andrew Smith was named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. It’s the third straight year that Butler has had one of 10 finalists for the award (Matt Howard in 2011 and Ronald Nored in 2012). Smith also 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.
>>Xavier, which hosts Fordham on Wednesday, holds a 51-1 record (.981) against Atlantic 10 competition at Cintas Center since 2007.
>>Richmond fans were treated to a welcome substitution against Saint Louis. Derrick Williams, who was injured earlier this season and missed the first half of conference play, checked in during the first half of UR’s game against Saint Louis on Saturday.
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Khalif Wyatt scored 20 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 7 seconds left, then Temple hung on in a frenzied final second to complete its come-from-behind 72-71 win over Dayton on Saturday.
The Owls (16-7, 5-4 Atlantic 10 Conference), who trailed 68-58 with 4:31 remaining, closed the game with a 14-3 spurt, with Scootie Randall scoring five in the spree. After Wyatt's 3-pointer, Will Cummings stole the ball from the Flyers' Kevin Dillard with 3 seconds showing.
In the last second, Dayton missed two free throws and Temple missed three, plus committed a turnover when Jake O'Brien fired his second free-throw attempt off the backboard. The Flyers (13-10, 3-6) inbounded the ball, but it was touched by the Owls, ending the game.
Anthony Lee added 13 points and Cummings and O'Brien had 11 apiece for Temple.
Dillard's 16 points led Dayton, which has lost three of its last four games.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Sam Mills scored a career-high 21 points, hitting 7 of 8 3-pointers, and Ramon Galloway was 5 of 7 from long range for 19 points as La Salle routed Fordham 89-53 Saturday.
The Explorers (16-6, 6-3 Atlantic 10 Conference), who came in ranked third in the league in scoring offense (71.4 points per game), hit 18 of 33 from long range, tying a school record for made treys. The Rams were only 3 of 16 from deep.
La Salle scored the first 10 points en route to a 56-25 halftime lead and pushed its advantage to 45 in the second half.
Tyrone Garland added 17 points and Tyreek Duren 16 for the Explorers, who have won four of their last five and 10 of 12 at home this season.
Travion Leonard and Jermaine Myers scored 10 apiece for Fordham (6-18, 2-7), which has lost four straight and seven of eight.
WASHINGTON (AP) - No. 14 Butler nearly gave away a 17-point lead Saturday, going the last 7 1/2 minutes without a field goal, before holding on for a 59-56 victory over George Washington.
The Colonials cut the lead to one in the final minute and had several 3-point attempts in the final 10 seconds that could have sent the game into overtime. Joe McDonald had the final chance, but he was stripped as he went up for the shot just before time expired.
Rotnei Clark scored 14 points and Roosevelt Jones had 12 for the Bulldogs (20-4, 7-2 Atlantic 10), who broke a two-game road losing streak during their inaugural tour of unfamiliar hostile environments in the school's first season in the Atlantic 10.
Isaiah Armwood had 14 points and 11 rebounds for George Washington (11-11, 5-4), which sold out the Smith Center for the first time since 2006 and was hosting its highest ranked opponent since 2000. The Colonials, who start four true freshmen, shot 28 percent.
KINGSTON, R.I. (AP) - Eric Mosley shot his way to a career-high 21 points as St. Bonaventure earned an Atlantic 10 Conference win over Rhode Island 67-61 Saturday night.
Mosley hit 5 of 11 3-pointers to help the Bonnies (11-11, 4-5) overcome an otherwise lackluster performance beyond the arc - the rest of the team was just 1-of-12 shooting from deep.
Chris Johnson added 12 points, including 6-of-6 free-throw shooting, for St. Bonaventure.
Xavier Munford, the A-10's second leading scorer with 17.5 points per game entering Saturday, finished with 18 points for Rhode Island (6-16, 1-8), which has dropped six straight.
Rhode Island led 32-26 at halftime and 53-46 with 7:45 remaining. Youssou Ndoye's jumper with 7:30 left sparked a 9-0 St. Bonaventure run for a 55-53 lead.
Munford hit a 3 to tie it 58-58 with 2:18 left, but Demitrius Conger's two free throws with 1:57 remaining put the Bonnies ahead to stay.
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Semaj Christon and Isaiah Philmore each scored 16 points and Xavier beat Duquesne 73-65 Saturday night.
It was the 11th consecutive loss for Duquesne (7-16, 0-9 Atlantic 10 Conference). The Musketeers are 13-9, 6-3.
Xavier, up 33-26 at halftime, got 15 points from Justin Martin and a double-double from Travis Taylor (13 points, 12 rebounds). The Musketeers never blew it open, not with Duquesne's Quevyn Winters scoring 19 points.
Winters' 8 for 20 shooting from the field included 3 of 12 3-pointers. Shooting beyond the arc killed Duquesne, which led 47-37 midway through the second half, then missed nine straight shots.
The Dukes were 9 of 33 on treys (27.3 percent). Jeremiah Jones (11 points) hit 3 of 5 3-pointers. Jerry Jones added 11 points.
Philmore, meanwhile, came off the Xavier bench for his 16 points. Justin Martin added 15 points. Christon also had eight assists and seven rebounds.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Rob Brandenberg scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half to lead Virginia Commonwealth to its third straight win, defeating Charlotte 68-61 Saturday night in an Atlantic 10 Conference contest.
Juvonte Reddic added 14 points and Treveon Graham chipped in 12 for the Rams (19-5, 7-2), who shot 51.9 percent (27 of 52) from the field and made 7 of 8 free throws.
Terrance Williams led Charlotte with 13 points and Willie Clayton was the lone 49er in double figures with 12. Charlotte shot 51.1 percent (24 of 47) but made just 1 of 7 3-point attempts and struggled at the free throw line, hitting 12 of 22 shots from the stripe.
The 49ers (17-6, 5-4) claimed a 21-11 advantage on second-chance points and outscored VCU 42-28 in the paint, but committed 17 turnovers for the second straight game. VCU turned those miscues into 23 points.
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) - Terrell Vinson had a game-high 18 points to power Massachusetts past Saint Joseph's 80-62 Saturday night in an Atlantic 10 Conference matchup.
Sampson Carter scored 16, Chaz Williams added 11 points and nine assists and Freddie Riley chipped in 10 to help UMass (15-6, 5-3) win its third straight game.
Cady Lalanne finished with a game-high 12 rebounds and the Hawks outscored the Minutemen in the paint 42-20.
Trailing at halftime 40-26, Saint Joseph's cut the lead to five, 59-54, behind Carl Jones' 3-pointer with 6:57 left to play.
UMass answered by scoring the next 21 points, going up 70-54 on Carter's jumper with 3:39 remaining. UMass led by double figures the rest of the way.
The Minutemen had just five turnovers while Saint Joseph's turned over the ball 14 times, leading to 14 UMass points.
Langston Galloway led the Hawks (13-8, 4-4) with 14 points and seven assists.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Dwayne Evans scored 11 points and Saint Louis built an 18-point second-half lead against cold-shooting Richmond and then held on to beat the Spiders 56-46 Saturday night, the Billiken's sixth straight win.
Jordair Jett, Kwamain Mitchell and Cody Ellis added nine points each for the Billikens (18-5, 7-2 Atlantic 10 Conference), who were the fourth consecutive conference leader or co-leader to visit the Robins Center, and the first to win. The Spiders had beaten Charlotte, Virginia Commonwealth and Xavier in succession.
Cedrick Lindsay led Richmond (14-10, 4-5) with 20 points, but the Spiders shot 23.3 percent (10 of 43).
Richmond was shooting just 17.1 percent (6 of 35) and had just one field goal in the first 13 1/2 minutes of the second half as the Billikens took a 44-26 lead.
After the Spiders got within 45-40, Saint Louis made 8 of 10 free throws in the final 3 minutes.
