The first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament took place on Tuesday, as the conference’s lower-seeded teams played for the right to face the higher-seeded teams on Friday.
No. 9 Dayton blew out No. 8 UMass, 78-50, so the Flyers will take on top-seeded Xavier on Friday at noon.
No. 12 St. Joseph’s upset No. 5 George Washington in overtime, 71-59 (and in case you’re wondering about that score, St. Joe’s ran the table in the overtime period, scoring 12 straight points).
No. 4 Duquesne will therefore play St. Joseph’s at 2:30 Friday. The two teams last met January 5, a game the Dukes won 75-63. That might be in the past, though – that began an eight-game losing streak for the Hawks, but since then they’ve won five of their last nine, while the Dukes’ season sputtered.
No. 10 LaSalle beat St. Bonaventure 75-73 in double-overtime. LaSalle will face No. 2 Temple on Friday at 6:30.
Finally, No. 6 Rhode Island knocked off No. 11 St. Louis, so Rhode Island will face No. 3 Richmond on Friday at 9:00 PM.