March 9, 2010

MASSACHUSETTS 59, CHARLOTTE 56

CHARLOTTE, NC - UMass won an Atlantic 10 Tournament game for the first time since 2002 with a 59-56 triumph over Charlotte on Tuesday night at Halton Arena. The 11th-seeded Minutemen (12-19) were led by a game-high 24 points from senior Ricky Harris to top the 6th-seeded 49ers in a back and forth game that featured nine lead changes and 10 ties. UMass advances to Atlantic City and A-10 Quarterfinals to face No. 3 seed Richmond on Friday night at 9 p.m.

On a night when the shots were not falling, the Minutemen used a strong defensive effort, holding the 49ers to 35 percent shooting in the second half and 37 percent for the game. UMass shot 32 percent from the field.

With UMass leading by one, Charlotte looked to be scoring for the first time in about five minutes as Derrio Green had a breakaway but his shot was blocked by Javorn Farrell into the backboard support for a jump ball and UMass was awarded possession with 1:26 remaining. That was followed by Terrell Vinson dropping in a baby jumper with 50 seconds left for a 54-51 UMass edge. After Charlotte called timeout, the 49ers went out on to the court with six players and were called for a technical foul, Harris made both free throws and UMass went up 56-51.

A 3-pointer by Gokhan Sirin, his first points of the game, pulled Charlotte within two with 46 seconds left, but Harris hit two free throws with 20 seconds left to put UMass up four, 58-54. After a Phil Jones putback with 12 seconds left, Vinson made one of two free throws with six seconds left to make it 59-56.

UMass then fouled with four seconds left to put DiJuan Harris at the line for 1-and-1. Harris missed and the clock ran out, giving UMass the 59-56 victory.

Charlotte was led by An?Juan Wilderness? 11 points, while Jones added 10. Derrio Green, who scored 34 against UMass in their regular season meeting, was held to just two points on 1-for-7 shooting.

DAYTON 70, GEORGE WASHINGTON 60

DAYTON, Ohio - Marcus Johnson scored 16 points and Dayton used a late nine-point run to defeat George Washington 70-60 Tuesday night in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

Dayton (20-11) led 44-33 in the second half, but the Colonials (16-14) chipped away at the lead and tied the game at 55 on Damian Hollis' jumper with 5:58 left.

The Flyers responded by going 8-for-10 from the line, fueling a 15-5 run that included the 9-0 run to close the game. Kurt Huelsman was 6-for-8 at the line in the final 7 minutes.

Chris Johnson and Rob Lowery added 11 points apiece for Dayton, which trailed 13-4 after the first 7 minutes.

Dayton, the No. 7 seed, will play No. 2 seed and regular-season co-champion Xavier in the quarterfinals Friday in Atlantic City, N.J.

Hollis scored 19 to lead George Washington, which qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2007.

ST. BONAVENTURE 83, DUQUESNE 71

ST. BONAVENTURE, NY - Senior Chris Matthews equaled a career-high with a 28 points and sophomore Andrew Nicholson turned in his third straight 20-point outing to lead St. Bonaventure to a 83-71 win over Duquesne Tuesday night in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship at the Reilly Center.

The win is the fifth in six games for the Bonnies, who improve to 15-15 on the season. The Brown and White's A-10 postseason win is their first since 2002, when they also defeated Duquesne in the first round.

St. Bonaventure advances to Friday's quarterfinal round of the A-10 Championship in Atlantic City and will take on top-seeded and two-time defending tournament champion Temple. Gametime at Boardwalk Hall is set for noon. "I'm really proud of our team especially Chris and Jonathan (Hall), because we wanted to get to Atlantic City for them and our guys did it for them," said head coach Mark Schmidt. "We didn't play that great on the defensive end but Andrew was terrific inside and Chris is playing really well right now from the perimeter."

Just six days ago against Duquesne, the combo of Matthews and Nicholson combined for 42 points as they each scored 21 points. Tonight, the duo hit the 20-point plateau together for the third time in six games, going a combined 16-of-24 from the field and 15-of-17 from the free throw line for 53 points.

Matthews' 28 points also equaled the program record for most points by a player in an A-10 Tournament game and in the process he also tied the single-season record with 98 three-pointers. Matthews drilled 6-of-8 from long range and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

Nicholson has tormented Duquesne over his career, scoring 20 or more points in four of five games. The A-10 All-Conference second team choice went 8-of-13 from the field and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe en route to his team-leading ninth 20-point game this season. Nicholson also tied for the team lead with seven rebounds and had three blocks.

For the third time in four games and the 11th time this season, St. Bonaventure shot above 50 percent (25-49) from the field, while sinking 9-of-12 from long range and 24-of-31 from the line. The Bonnies dished out 18 assists on their 25 made field goals and had just 11 turnovers.

Duquesne, who was led by junior Damian Saunders' 20th double-double of the season, shot a shade under 50 percent (29-59), but was plagued by a 5-for-21 performance from long range.

The opening 5:16 featured five lead changes until a 6-0 by Bill Clark gave Duquesne a 13-9 lead.

Matthews brought the Bonnies right back with a 6-0 run of his own that featured three free throws after getting fouled from beyond the arc and his 94th trifecta of the season. Matthews' run sparked the Bonnies, as his opening six points were a part of an 11-2 spurt that gave the home team a 20-15 lead 9:59 left.

The Bona lead quickly evaporated thanks to a four-minute scoring drought that left St. Bonaventure trailing 24-22 with 5:50 on the clock. The drought saw the Bonnies go six possessions without a point.

After being held in check over the first 16 and half minutes, Nicholson found a rhythm inside, scoring seven of the team's final 10 points to help St. Bonaventure take a 34-30 lead at the break.

Nicholson's 11 points combined with the 11 from Matthews by the 11-minute mark helped the Brown and White claim their 10th halftime lead out of 15 games at the RC this season. Duquesne was doomed by a 1-for-12 shooting performance from long range over the opening 20 minutes.

Nicholson's late run in the first carried over to the second half, as the 6-foot-9 forward helped the Bonnies survive Duquesne cutting the Bona lead to one, 45-44, at the 14:14 mark. Nicholson scored nine points in the first seven minutes of the final frame, including the first four of a game-changing 14-1 run that ballooned the Bona lead to 14, at 59-45 with less than 10 minutes to go.

The Dukes cut it to a two-possession game, 69-63, with 4:29 remaining, but a 9-0 run by Matthews clinched the team's first A-10 quarterfinal appearances since 2002.

Fellow senior Jonathan Hall battled through an off-shooting night to score 11 points, grab a team-high seven boards and dish out five assists over 37 minutes.

Fans can watch St. Bonaventure's quarterfinal game against Temple live on CBS College Sports or on Time Warner SportsNet in Buffalo, Rochester and Olean. CBS's Eric Frede (Play-by-Play) and John Griffin (Analyst) will have the call.

RHODE ISLAND 87, SAINT JOSEPH'S 76

KINGSTON, RI- The Rhode Island men's basketball team (22-8) defeated Saint Joseph's 87-76 Tuesday night at the Ryan Center to advance to the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Rhody's win at the Ryan Center marked its 13 victory at home this season, which marked a single-season record.

Seniors Keith Cothran and Lamonte Ulmer scored 15 points apiece. Ulmer also pulled down six rebounds and had two blocked shots.

During the game, Ulmer recorded his 1,000th career point and 100th career block. Ulmer becomes just the second player in school history to record 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 100 steals and 100 blocks. Antonio Reynolds-Dean ('99) is the other.

Rhody jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Saint Joseph's fought back with a 10-0 spurt to take a 10-5 lead at the 15:21 mark. The Rams responded with an 11-2 run over the next four and a half minutes to open up a 16-12 lead.

Saint Joseph's came back to tie the game at 21 apiece at the 8:10 mark after the Hawks outscored the Rams 9-5 during the next three minutes. Junior Ben Eaves quickly gave the Rams the lead once again as he hit a 3-pointer, giving Rhody a 24-21 advantage.

Eaves was one of three Rhody reserves, which scored five points off the bench in the first half. Sixteen of URI's 31 points came from the bench.

Rhody led for the remainder of the half and took a 37-32 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, the Rams opened up an eight point lead (48-40) with 16:04 to play, but the Hawks would not go away as they fought right back to cut URI's lead to one (57-56) with just under 10 minutes to go.

URI held off the Hawks over the next seven minutes and opened up a nine-point lead at the 3:14 mark when Marquis Jones hit a 3-pointer to give the Rams a nine-point lead (73-64), which was their largest of the game.

In the final three minutes of the game, Rhody outscored Saint Joseph's 14-12 to secure the win.

Rhody returns to action on Friday at 2:30 as it takes on Saint Louis at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.