Over half of the Atlantic 10 has wrapped up their exhibition seasons, more often than not in dominating fashion. La Salle and Davidson will round out the group this week with warmups of their own before regular season action begins. Here is a quick look at how teams have faired so far.
Oct 30 – UMass 120 v AIC 71
BRIEFLY: As the score suggests, UMass had zero trouble cruising past American International in their tuneup win.
STANDOUT PLAYER: Hard to pick one but Cady Lalanne dropped a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double in just 12 minutes, adding 4 blocks and hitting 2-of-3 3-pointers for the Minutemen. WVU transfer Jabarie Hinds posted 10 points and seven assists in just 13 minutes while CJ Anderson dished a game-high eight assists to go with his eight points. Minutemen shot 55.4% from the field.
Nov 4 – Saint Louis 86 v Harris-Stowe 59
BRIEFLY: The Billikens made easy work of Harris-Stowe despite replacing all five senior starters from last season’s team. H-S turned the ball over 27 times while the Billikens shot 51.6% from the floor: recipe for a blowout. SLU did however have 19 turnovers and looked shaky at PG at times.
STANDOUT PLAYER: McBroom led all players with a game-high 19 points but it’s Villanova transfer, Ash Yocoubou, that should have SLU fans feeling hopeful. Yocoubou dominated early and finished the game with 16 points on 7-9 shooting in his 21 minutes. He added five rebounds, four steals and two assists and looked dominate at times.
Nov 7 – Duquesne 72 – Shippensburg 69
BRIEFLY: That final score should say it all. I wondered why the Dukes put together such a weak non-conference slate but now officially understand why. Duquesne allowed Shippensburg a 13-0 second half run, watching a 51-39 lead turn into a 53-51 deficit. The teams then traded runs before battling to the wire in the Dukes win.
STANDOUT PLAYER: Truth be told, Shippensburg’s Dylan Edgar who dropped a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double on the Dukes, but with this being an A-10 article, we’ll go with LG Gill (from my hometown of Chesterfield, VA), who posted a game-high 23 points and hit a big three to stop Shippensburg’s first second half run.
Nov 7 – VCU 92 – Cal U (PA) 43
BRIEFLY: VCU dominated the Vulcans from start to finish with a balanced attack that saw one player post 20+ minutes (JeQuan Lewis). They also did so without preseason A-10 First Team selection, Briante Weber, not to mention just four points from fellow First-Teamer, Treveon Graham.
STANDOUT PLAYER: Partially the standout because of his “Mr. Glass” style afro, but mostly because of a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double in 17 minutes on 7-of-10 shooting. ESPN top-100 freshmen, Justin Tillman, looked scary good, wowing the crowd with a number of highlight dunks in reserve action. Melvin Johnson made a case with 20 points in 17 minutes that included a 6-8 mark from deep.
Nov 8 – Dayton 96 – Southern Indiana 66
BRIEFLY: Once again, total domination from start to finishing including a 37-9 lead to start the game. The only negative (if any) is the Flyers played a pretty shallow bench, playing just eight players double-digit minutes. The Flyers shot a scoring 57.9% from the field and saw five players in double digits.
STANDOUT PLAYER: I have said this guy is the key and can be one of the A-10’s biggest breakout players so I am please dto announce Jalen Robinson is off to a nice start (all-be-it in exhibition action). The 6’9 center led all players with a game-high 20 points to go along with a game-high 14 rebounds in 28 minutes of pplay. He was 9-11 from the field. Flyer fans will hope to see more nights like that after a disappointing 2013-14 season.
George Mason 91 – Shenandoah 51
BRIEFLY: Another dominating performance from an A-10 team against an out-matched opponent, the Patriots used a deep bench and balanced attack to own Shenandoah in every aspect of the contest, including a 50-28 rebounding advantage. Mason owned the paint, outscoring the Hornets 62-14 down low.
STANDOUT PLAYER: 2013-14 A-10 All-Rookie selection, Jalen Jenkins, did it all, scoring 17 points in 21 minutes while grabbing seven rebounds and two steals. The 6’7 forward dished out a game-high five assists in the win. GT transfer, Julian Royal, led all players with nine rebounds to go along with 10 points. Mason should have no problem rebounding the ball this season.
George Washington 89 – Bloomsburg 47
BRIEFLY: Once again, utter domination of an exhibition opponent, GW shot 66% from the field including over 71% in the second half while holding Bloomsburg to just 24.2% shooting on the game. The only negative for the Colonials was the poor turnout with a reported attendance of 1,744. GW fans, your team is awesome…SUPPORT THEM!
STANDOUT PLAYER: Kevin Larsen and Patrcio Garino put up equally impressive lines so I’ll shift the focus to newcomer Yuta Watanabe. The 6’8 freshmen from Kagawa, Japan scored 12 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked a game-high three shots in his 20 minutes off the bench, a welcome site to Colonial fans after the departure of graduated senior big, Isaiah Armwood.
St. Bonaventure 86 – Mansfield 45
BRIEFLY: The Bonnies turned Mansfield over 28 times in a rout over the DII squad at the Reilly Center. 12 of SBU’s 14 players scored in the win, including a game-high 20 points from Dion Wright.
STANDOUT PLAYER: Wright was dominant in his 26 minutes (10-12 shooting) but it was also nice to see transfer guard, Marcus Posley, have some success with his new squad, posting 14 points of his own while dishing out three St. Bonaventure’s 23 assists in the win.
