RICHMOND, Va. - Fifth-seeded Massachusetts advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals for the first time since 2016 winning over 13^th-seeded Saint Joseph’s Thursday afternoon by a 100-66 score at Richmond University’s Robins Center.

“It’s a little bit different feeling with the Atlantic 10 microphone in front of me, than it was last year at this time,” UMass coach Matt McCall stated. “We talked a lot the last two days just about controlling the things we can control. We can control our ability to play unselfish on offense and our ability to play with great effort. We did those two things today and I was very proud of our team. We came out with the right mentality.”

This win serves as the largest margin of victory between two teams in Atlantic 10 Championship history. In additionally, UMass becomes the fifth team to achieve 100 points in A-10 Championship history, and the first time since George Washington achieved this in 1999.
The Minutemen recorded 15 made 3-point baskets, 12 of which came in the first half. The 15 makes tie for the second most in A-10 Championship history, two behind St. Bonaventure which buried its 17 triples in 2002.

Massachusetts’s 40 field goals made was the third most in championship history, two behind Rhode Island’s all-time mark set in 1988. UMass had this performance despite playing the sixth-fewest games of all NCAA Division I opponents with 13.

“This was the first game where collectively as a group, everyone shot it well,” said McCall. “They go down there, you throw the ball into the post and they send doubles. When they double team Tre (Mitchell), he finds guys. If teams are going to do that and we shoot it at that clip, we can be difficult to beat.”

UMass had six players reach double figures led by forward Ronnie DeGray III’s 19 points. He was 8-for-11 from the field and made all six of his two-point shot attempts. Additionally, Tre Mitchell recorded a double-double consisting of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Javohn Garcia recorded a final line of 17 points, five rebounds and seven assists for the Minutemen, while Noah Fernandes and Carl Pierre each added 14 points.

All five Massachusetts starters had a plus/minus of +31 or higher in Thursday’s contest and the Minutemen won the rebounding battle by a 47-30 margin.

Saint Joseph’s was led by Jordan Hall’s 18 points, while he also grabbed six rebounds. Taylor Funk (14), Dahmir Bishop (11) and Cameron Brown (11) were the Hawks other two double-figure scorers. Ryan Daly was held to seven points in a losing effort.

“It’s been a blessing coaching these guys,” Saint Joseph’s coach Billy Lange said. “The disruptions and distortions we had this season, it’s truly been God’s grace that we’ve had the energy to just get to this point physically, mentally and emotionally. To take that energy that has been granted to them and go our and represent Saint Joseph’s University and Saint Joseph’s Basketball, I’m really proud.”

Saint Joseph’s led for all of nine seconds in this contest as Brown made a layup. From there, Massachusetts responded with seven points.

The Hawks attempted to battle back but could only get its first-half deficit down to five points, before UMass broke out. It was an 18-0 run for the Minutemen which started with five points from Fernandes.

UMass compared an 7-for-9 with four three-point shots made while Saint Joseph’s compared at 0-for-7. The run occurred over a 4:29 stretch.

This barrage of baskets ended when Bishop sank a 3-pointer of his own for the Hawks.
Saint Joseph’s was able to cut its disadvantage to 15 points, but UMass quickly was able to respond.

UMass led 59-36 at halftime shooting 65.7 percent from the field and 60 percent on its 3-point shots. To put the result in perspective, the Minutemen scored 57 points in Monday evening’s loss at Saint Louis. The 59 first-half points are the most the Minutemen have scored in a half since a Mar 5, 2008 effort against La Salle.

“Our plan of attack was honestly to just play basketball,” Tre Mitchell said. “A lot of times we get a little too systematic, but today we just focused on defensive effort, and the offense came naturally.”

It was much of the same to open the second half as UMass, specifically Pierre, sank three trifectas to open the stanza, which activated a Saint Joseph’s timeout.

From there, with the game in hand, UMass rode a 12-0 run later in the half and later emptied its bench, allowing for a total of 13 players to see the floor.

UMass will prepare to take on Saint Louis in Friday afternoon quarterfinal contest set to tip off at 1 p.m. from the Robins Center. The game will be televised by NBCSN. These teams met Monday with the Billikens coming away with a 78-57 victory at Chaifetz Arena.