March 6, 2012
Seeds four through eight, all hosting Atlantic 10 Championship opening round games, won Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall Friday through Sunday.
No. 8 Massachusetts 92, No. 9 Duquesne 83
Box\ Score
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) - Chaz Williams scored 21 points and Raphiael Putney and Javorn Farrell added 20 apiece as Massachusetts rallied to defeat Duquesne 92-83 Tuesday night in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament
The eighth-seeded Minutemen (21-10) will face No. 21 Temple, the top seed, in Friday's quarterfinals in Atlantic City, N.J.
There were eight ties and 14 lead changes, with UMass trailing 78-73 with 6:03 left. Terrell Vinson then hit a 3-pointer, Farrell made a layup and Williams hit four straight free throws for a 82-78 Minutemen lead with 3:37 to go
After Sean Johnson's 3-pointer cut the deficit to one, Williams made a layup and UMass hit 8 of 10 free throws to avenge an 80-69 loss to Duquesne on Jan.18.
The Minutemen shot 50.8 percent from the field (30 of 59).
Eric Evans and Jerry Jones scored 16 points apiece for the ninth-seeded Dukes (16-15).
No. 6 Dayton 67, No. 11 George Washington 50
Box Score
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Devin Oliver scored a season-high 19 points and Dayton defeated George Washington for the second time in four days, taking a 67-50 win Tuesday night in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.
The sixth-seeded Flyers (20-11), who posted their fifth straight 20-win season, will face third-seeded Xavier in Friday's quarterfinals in Atlantic City, N.J.
Coming off a 75-59 victory over the Colonials on March 3, Dayton jumped out to a 31-17 halftime lead.
George Washington got within five, at 48-43 with 7:05 remaining, on a David Pellom layup. Chris Johnson answered with a 3-pointer, then Pellom dunked and Josh Parker sank a trey, followed by two free throws with 4:25 left, to push the lead into double digits for good.
Dayton outshot the 11th-seeded Colonials 51.2 percent (22 of 43) to 34.5 percent (19 of 55).
Pellom led George Washington (10-21) with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
No. 7 La Salle 80, No. 10 Richmond 72
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Ramon Galloway had 17 points to pace four double-figure scorers for La Salle in an 80-72 win over Richmond on Tuesday night in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament opening round.
The seventh-seeded Explorers (21-11) advance to the quarterfinals and will take on the tournament's second seed, Saint Louis, on Friday night in Atlantic City, N.J.
Earl Pettis had 15 points, Jerrell Wright 14 and Devon White 13 for the Explorers.
After La Salle led by seven at halftime, Richmond used a 6-0 run to cut the Explorers' lead to just one at 40-39 with 17:34 to play. But the Explorers extended their lead to as many as 15 at the 3:58 mark of the second half after a 9-0 run.
Darien Brothers led the Spiders (16-16), the tournament's 10th seed, with 31 points. Richmond edged La Salle 78-76 on the road in the only regular-season meeting between the teams.
No. 5 Saint Joseph's 80, No. 12 Charlotte 64
Box\ score
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Carl Jones scored 23 points and Halil Kanacevic had a double-double to lead Saint Joseph's over Charlotte 80-64 on Tuesday night in the Atlantic 10 tournament.
The Hawks advance to face No. 4 St. Bonaventure Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Atlantic City, N.J. Boardwalk Hall.
Jones was 7 of 11 from the field as the Hawks (20-12) made 54.7 percent (29 of 53).
Kanacevic scored 16 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and had four blocks for the fifth-seeded Hawks. Saint Joseph's will play St. Bonaventure in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Langston Galloway added 18 points and C.J. Aiken and Ronald Roberts chipped in 10 points each for the Hawks, who avenged a 57-52 loss to Charlotte on Jan. 7.
Saint Joseph's opened the game on a 13-4 run behind seven points from Kanacevic, and led the entire way.
The Hawks outrebounded Charlotte 41-31 and outscored them 14-2 on the fast break.
The 12th-seeded 49ers (13-17) were led by Chris Braswell with 20 points and DeMario Mayfield with 12.