#9 Richmond 70 #8 Richmond 55
T.J. Cline had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead Richmond into the A10 Quarterfinals, where they’ll face #1 Dayton tomorrow at noon. The Spiders’ lead by 16 points at the half over Fordham, but the Rams quickly responded, cutting the deficit to ten within the first few minutes of the second half. Ryan Rhoomes cut the deficit to just one, 46-45, with 8:40 remaining, but Fordham would get no closer.
In addition to Cline’s 17 points, ShawnDre’ Jones added 17 points of his own, while Terry Allen and Khwan Fore both added 10 points each. However, there was one noticeable absence in the Spiders’ lineup: Marshall Wood. The junior averaged 8.6 points per game this season for Richmond, and is out with a concussion after the car he was driving hit a tree, while swerving to avoid a deer earlier this week (per @mitchcarrtv on Twitter)
Richmond advances to play top-seeded Dayton tomorrow, in a rematch of their one-point loss at the hands of the Flyers on March 1st, 85-84.
#5 George Washington 73 #13 Saint Louis 65
GW kept their NCAA Tournament hopes alive with their win today, but got all they wanted from the Billikens, especially in the second half. Despite heading into the half up six, the lead by no means felt safe for the Colonials. Saint Louis began the second half shooting 8-10 from three, and shot 56% from beyond the arc the whole game. Despite this, GW lead for the entire game, though every time it seemed as though the Colonials were pulling away, Saint Louis had an answer.
Ultimately, George Washington was able to finally put the game away down the stretch, as Alex Mitola hit several key free throws to put the game out of reach. Saint Louis was lead by Jermaine Bishop with 15 points, while Reggie Agbeko added 12 and Davell Roby had 11. After his enormous 24 point game last night, Marcus Bartley only had six points.
Yuta Watanabe lead the way for the Colonials with 19, Cavanaugh had 13 and Larsen and Garino had 10 each. One trend that has plagued GW the last several years in the A10 Tournament has been the inability to win multiple games on back-to-back days. After the game, Mike Lonergan addressed the media with some words about conditioning and his team’s energy level:
“We got really tired early, we don’t have a deep bench.”
“Hopefully, we’re rested and we have enough energy tomorrow to give St. Joe’s a game.”
Ultimately, Longergan believes that GW should be in the NCAA Tournament with a win tomorrow against Saint Joseph’s, though many believe that the Colonials must make the A10 finals to earn an at-large bid. GW will continue their march towards the NCAAs tomorrow against Saint Joe’s at 2:30.
