A10 Tournament First Round: Numbers and Notes

Right from the beginning. The first round of the Atlantic Ten Tournament gave us an immediate hint that this is going to be the proverbial ‘expect the unexpected’  affair at Barclay’s Center. 

Scores:

Fordham 71  Davidson 63 (OT)

La Salle   61  George Washington 60

Saint Louis  74  Rhode Island 71

The efficiency margins (offensive-defensive efficiency) for the first round are as follows:

Kenpom.com MVPs:

Jhamir Brickus, La Salle- Shot 3 of 5 from deep en route to  game-high 21 points. Brickus scored 14 of his points after intermission and also pulled down eight boards. 

Gibson Jimerson, Saint Louis- Led all scorers with 26 points. The junior guard was 7 of 8 from the charity stripe.

Will Richardson, Fordham- Led the Rams with his season-high 20 points. Richardson scored 16 of his points in the second half and overtime. The sophomore guard shot 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. 

Fordham trailed Davidson by 13 midway through the second half. Rams went on a run and held the Wildcats to three points over the final 6:38 in regulation plus overtime. Kyle Rose sent the contest into overtime on a layup with 2.1 seconds left. Fordham then scored the first ten points in the extra session.

With their first round win over Rhode Island, Saint Louis has now had consecutive wins for the first time since December. Billikens led by nine at the half. In the final analysis, that lead was not safe as the Rams battled back to take a 64-59 lead with 5:47 to play before Saint Louis rallied.  In total, the game wound up with five ties and nine lead changes. 

In another back and forth game with ten lead changes and eight ties, La Salle won a first round game for the third straight year. Jhamir Brickus hit the winning shot with 20 seconds left. The Explorers then made a defensive stop to secure the victory. 

Second Round:

George Mason s. Saint Joseph’s

VCU vs. Fordham

St. Bonaventure vs. La Salle

Duquesne vs. Saint Louis