Atlantic 10 Basketball: Recap of 1st and 2nd rounds of 2023 tournament
Round 2 – Wednesday, March 8th, 2023
(8) Davidson 65 vs (9) St Bonaventure 54
The Davidson Wildcats’ plan against almost any conference opponent is to feed senior guard Foster Loyer and junior forward Sam Mennenga.
That plan worked for them in the second round against the St Bonaventure Bonnies. Loyer posted 14 points and eight rebounds, and Mennenga had 12 points and eight rebounds, but this contest was all Desmond Watson.
The sophomore guard led all scorers with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and a perfect day at the charity stripe.
The Wildcats will have to bring that same energy in the next round against Ace Baldwin Jr and the one-seed VCU Rams.
(5) George Mason 62 vs (12) Richmond 57
The George Mason Patriots entered the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the Atlantic 10, ending the regular season on a six-game winning streak.
The Spiders were up by four after a Matt Grace bucket with 2:08 remaining, but the Patriots strung together an 11-2 run to end the game. The go-ahead bucket, however, came with 47 seconds left when Ronald Polite III knocked down a three-pointer to put Mason up by one.
It wasn’t just Polite III who led the Patriots in the comeback victory; Josh Oduro had 16 points, and ten rebounds, and Davonte Gaines had nine while going 3-of-5 from behind the arc.
The win over Richmond means we will have a new Atlantic 10 Conference tournament Champion this year.
(7) George Washington 76 vs (10) Saint Joseph’s 87
While this game was just a one-point lead at the half, the Hawks’ ability to score in the second half gave Saint Joseph’s a reason to play into the second half of the week.
Rahseer Fleming, Cameron Brown, Lynn Greer III, and Erik Reynolds II all finished in double figures.
Erik Reynolds II came to play, exploding for a career-high 34 points on 10-of-22 shooting from the field,12-of12 at the free-throw line, and playing every minute of this game for Coach Billy Lange.
Saint Joseph’s did a great job in the second half, coming off of screens as the Hawks shot 5-of-11 from three, which was a significant factor in their success. With a three-point lead and under two minutes remaining, Brown and Fleming hit clutch threes on back-to-back offensive possessions to ice the game.
(6) Duquesne 70 vs (11) La Salle 81
It was the Khalil Brantley and Jhamir Brickus show for the Explorers. Brickus led the charge posting 23 points, four assists, and three steals, and Brantley added 22 points, six rebounds, six assists, and shot 50 percent from the field.
La Salle’s defense was very dynamic in the second half with the help of Hassan and Fousseyni Drame. This allowed the Explorers to go on a run and leave Duquesne with limited options offensively with little time remaining.
While Duquesne had a tough time hitting shots going 10-of-33 from range, they were led by Jimmy Clark III. The junior guard had 27 points and shot 62.5 percent from three.
The win over Duquesne means the La Salle Explorers have advanced to the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2015.