Welcome to day 3 of the A10 Tournament liveblog!
Game 4: Davidson vs Saint Louis
3:09 second half: Davidson 73, Saint Louis 54
Some people are telling me I’m being too hard on Travis Ford for the zone defense since Saint Louis only has seven eligible players. You can’t play man every night and still expect to have the legs to play on the third or fourth night. To that I’ll say that if there’s any team in the entire country you’d rather play man than zone it’s probably Davidson, and Saint Louis has had to try pressing on a few possessions anyway here in the second half since they’ve been getting cooked so badly all game. The reality is that there’s probably not a strategy that would have won the game for Saint Louis when Davidson is shooting like this, so I’ll back off.
Davidson looks terrifying. They have bid thief written all over them. Ball movement is exceptional, they don’t turn the ball over, and on the rare possession when they don’t generate a good look they have the shooters to bail them out. Peyton Aldridge has 35 tonight; he and Grady could definitely put the team on their backs and carry Davidson to an A10 title. Aldridge just checked out, and I expect his night is over. So is mine. Goodnight all. Mason Forever!
11:45 second half: Davidson 59, SLU 44
Davell Roby has hit four more threes for St. Louis, bringing him to 21 points on 6-7 from deep for the night, but he’s one of only four Billikens to score. SLU only goes seven deep, so that’s bad news. They’re also getting roasted on backdoor action, giving up wide open looks at the rim on four consecutive possessions. They’ve played a lot more man this half and even pressed on a couple possessions, but Davidson is too sharp. I don’t think SLU has any way to get consistent stops.
Aldridge is up to 26 points, but mercifully hasn’t hit a 3 yet. He’s sitting on 6-6 from 3 for the game.
One more fun fact: Davidson hasn’t shot a free throw yet. No need to go inside too much when you’re raining fire from deep.
Halftime: Davidson 41, SLU 23
Saint Louis settled into man for the last possession, but not before running the 1-3-1 trap a couple more times just to make absolutely sure it’s not the right defense. The problem with the trap is they send three guys at the ball out on the perimeter, and when that guy gets a pass off Davidson is essentially 4-on-2 and they move the ball too damn well for that. Davidson finishes the half 16-29 from the floor and 9-16 from three.
SLU got a couple shots to fall toward the end of the half, but this is a boat race. Davell Roby and Jalen Johnson are each 2-3 from deep, but I can’t imagine this gets close in the second. I’ll be sticking around to scream at Aldridge and make sure he doesn’t break Dre Smith’s 10-10 from three record.
3:07 first half: Davidson 39, SLU 15
Saint Louis keeps playing variations of zone – mostly a 1-3-1 trap and a 2-3 matchup – and they’re still getting sliced and diced. I’m super curious as to why SLU Coach Travis Ford thinks this is the right play. Davidson is one of the best shooting teams in the country and it seems obvious you don’t want to zone them. Ford has the personnel to match up with them in man too.
On the other side, Davidson’s defense is trying to make the game ugly and Saint Louis’s offense is obliging. They can’t stop turning the ball over (already with 7) and it’s almost impossible for them to get it inside. Tons of swinging the ball harmlessly around the perimeter before settling for a jumper or getting stripped on a drive attempt.
Peyton Aldridge already has 20 points and is 6-6 from three. Dre Smith’s record is in trouble. This game is trash and there might not be a second half blog.
11:59 first half: Davidson 21, SLU 10
Saint Louis has been trying to attack Davidson’s zone on the wings, but they’re having trouble getting the ball inside. They’ve already got four turnovers. On defense, they started man, but they’ve settled into a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap that got roasted for open threes on consecutive possessions. Davidson runs some really great stuff off the ball so I get trying to neutralize that, but they shoot too damn well to justify zone. Travis Ford is a good defensive coach so we’ll see what he comes back with.
Davidson is 5-9 from three, including 3-3 from the eternally terrifying Peyton Aldridge.
Pregame: These teams met only once this season, with Davidson winning 54-51 at home. They shot 4-23 from deep, one of their worst performances of the season, and had an uncharacteristically high 14 turnovers. They needed an 11-4 run over the last 10 minutes to pull it out.
Saint Louis shot 7-19 from deep, which is a little better than their usual terrible shooting, but that game happened before Davidson fully committed to their zone defense. Expect Davidson to try to keep the paint clogged, ugly the game up inside, and make Saint Louis shoot jumpers.
Game 3: Saint Bonaventure vs Richmond
Final: Saint Bonaventure 83, Richmond 77
Update: one thing I didn’t realize is that Courtney Stockard went out around the 10 minute mark with Bonaventure up 13. He’s hurt and it’s unclear what his status is for tomorrow. He is crazy important for the Bonnies, as he’s the third highest scorer and the difference between them being above average and very good. Stockard raises the ceiling of this Bonaventure team considerably.
What a wild ending. The Bonnies led 74-57 with 6 minutes left, then proceeded to give up a 16-2 run to make it a one possession game at 76-73. It was a one possession game again at 79-77, when Jaylen Adams got fouled on the inbound and only hit one of two free throws. Nick Sherod from Richmond got a beautiful look at a three to tie with 18 seconds left. It was halfway down before it jumped out. Richmond had to foul from there, and the Bonnies iced it at the line.
Mobley ended the game with 29 points, and Fore and Gilyard had 25 and 18, respectively. I am stunned that Richmond fought back. The Bonnies were in real danger of completing a collapse that could have dashed their tournament hopes. Jaylen Adams ends his night with five points on 1-7 shooting. He needs to play better tomorrow if they’re going to advance against the winner of Davidson-St. Louis.
Richmond’s season ends, but holy hell do they look like they are gonna be good next year. They hit their stride down the stretch in conference play and they return all five starters.
4:00 second half: Bonaventure 74, Richmond 68
Richmond is fighting like hell and has shaved the lead to six. It feels impossible to think the Bonnies might lose this but they’ve gone cold and Richmond is 9-16 this half, including 5-8 from three. Richmond has shaved 11 points off the lead since Grant Golden subbed out at the 6 minute mark.
7:50 second half: Bonaventure 69, Richmond 55
Matt Mobley has taken the Spiders out back and shot them. Credit to Richmond, they’re battling, but Mobley is 7-8 from three this half and he’s up to 26 points. Richmond is getting some timely three-point shooting of their own from Gilyard and Julius Johnson to keep them from getting blown out. Grant Golden is 1-4 this half and he’s been on the bench for a few minutes now. Not sure Richmond actually has any good answers here – the Bonnies are bigger, more athletic, and are shooting lights out.
Bonaventure had 2.25 points per possession on their first twelve possessions of the half. That’s insane.
14:49 second half: Bonaventure 53, Richmond 37
Remember what I said about how Jaylen Adams needs to get going? You can forget about that. Matt Mobley hit three quick threes to start the half and forced Richmond Coach Chris Mooney to take a timeout at 17:56. Mobley’s also playing pretty intense defense, as he forced a couple turnovers. He now has four threes just this half, Courtney Stockard added another, and Richmond looks totally shook. 21-5 in favor of the Bonnies here and it looks like Richmond is about to get their doors blown off.
Halftime: Richmond 32, Bonaventure 32
Richmond really does a great job of putting pressure on the defense by driving into the paint, then kicking out to shooters when they collapse. They’ve created a ton of space on the perimeter and it’s no accident they’re 6-13 from three. Fore and Gilyard have combined for 20 points, while Golden and Buckingham have the other 12. Despite the size disadvantage, the Spiders are winning on the boards with a 5-3 offensive rebounding edge. I would’ve guessed that would go the other way here.
Things to watch in the second half: Ladarien Griffin on Grant Golden. Golden is only 3-8 shooting, and you have to figure Richmond’s shooters will cool down at some point. Golden needs to get it going if Richmond’s going to compete. Other thing: Jaylen Adams is 0-4 from the field and hasn’t scored yet. Bonnies can pull away if he starts getting his, but if he doesn’t it’ll stay close.
2:07 first half: Bonaventure 30, Richmond 27
Richmond came out hot with their rocket guard combo of Khwan Fore and Jacob Gilyard scoring 14 of their first 19. For Bonaventure, Matt Mobley has 8 but Jaylen Adams hasn’t scored a point yet. Courtuney Stockard has 12 already, including a runaway train dunk that brought the house down. He’s a 6’7″ wing and I don’t think Richmond has anyone who matches up with him well. He’s been getting switched onto Richmond’s tiny guards.
Bonaventure is defending Grant Golden with Ladarien Griffin, which is fun. Griffin is undersized but bouncy and he’s one of my favorite random players in the A10. Golden looks flustered at times, but he’s already got 7. I had some other thoughts typed out that I lost due to crappy stadium wifi, and it’s really a shame. They would have changed your life for the better.
We’ll see how this goes once Jaylen Adams gets going. I don’t think Richmond has the horses to hold him down all game.
Pregame: Sneaky fun warning! Both these teams play really well small and have excellent guards. They’ve also both been insanely hot, with Bona winning 12 in a row and Richmond posting an offensive rating of 125 or better in their last three games. I don’t think Richmond’s mighty-mite guards will be able to contain Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley, and I don’t know if the Bonnies have someone who can credibly defend Grant Golden. Buckle up!
Game 2: Main Event: Mason vs Saint Joseph’s
Postgame
In the presser, Phil Martelli says that St. Joe’s went exclusively zone in the second half even though Mason was 6-12 against it in the first half. His team had a good feel for Mason’s zone offense and they tightened up their defense in the second after coming out a little sloppy in the first. Martelli also said that St. Joe’s focus was to prevent Mason’s drives. I’m paraphrasing, but Martelli said something like “if I have to fall on my sword, I’d rather fall on my sword on a jumper than a layup.” It’s clear the game plan was to wall off the paint and prevent Mason from getting to the rim.
I asked Dave Paulsen what you can do when the team is getting good looks but shots aren’t falling. He said you can move guys to different spots, and they tried to get Otis the ball on the baseline to help him drive, but there’s only so much you can do when the ball isn’t going in. He also mentioned the missed bunnies around the rim, in addition to the missed threes. In regards to staying small down the stretch, Paulsen said that Greg and AJ simply weren’t as effective as they were yesterday. Greg had two turnovers and a foul in his brief stint in the second half. while AJ had a foul and a goaltending call.
Final: St. Joe’s 68, Mason 49
The guys fought hard but shots just weren’t falling tonight. In addition the abysmal 2-25 performance from three, they missed several bunnies at the rim and Kier missed the front end of a one-and-one. Lots of shots fell short, so dead legs from yesterday’s game may have been an issue. Mason finished the game 18-61 from the floor.
Not that it would have mattered much, but I thought it was questionable to remain small throughout the second half. AJ Wilson subbed out after getting his third foul with 16:05 to go and Mason trailing 36-31. St. Joe’s proceeded to go on an 11-3 run and the game was never really close after that. Calixte and AJ remained on the bench for the entire second half, despite each looking healthy and having only three fouls. The small lineup wasn’t hitting shots or defending the perimeter very well, so I would have liked to see one or both of them check back in.
A fun season comes to a difficult end, but better days are ahead. With a year of seasoning for the guys on the team and a badly needed talent infusion coming in the form of Jarred Reuter, Jordan Miller, and Jason Douglas-Stanley, Mason should contend for the A10 crown next season.
7:50 second half: St. Joe’s 52, Mason 37
Open threes continue to elude Mason, as they are 0-7 this half and 1-16 overall. St. Joe’s is heating up and has blown this game open with a 5-8 performance from deep in the second. Mason is only 13-44 from the field overall and had a four minute drought before an Otis layup made it 47-36. Mason has 3 points in the last four and a half minutes of gametime.
Mason has been small for almost ten minutes with Calixte and AJ on the bench, and they still can’t stop Saint Joe’s from nailing open threes. Things looking dire here as Mason has been pressing, which they never do, as Saint Joe’s lead keeps growing.
15:41 second half: St. Joes 36, Mason 31
Neither team is shooting particularly well, but St. Joe’s is 4-13 from 3 and Mason is 1-11. Mason has gone small after Greg Calixte had a couple early turnovers and AJ Wilson picked up his 3rd foul. Points aren’t coming easy and it looks like St. Joe’s is finding a little bit of a rhythm. Mason’s going to have to battle to stay in this one, and shots need to start falling soon.
Halftime: St. Joe’s 26, Mason 25
Mason briefly held a 23-19 lead but gave up a 7-0 run over a two-minute period. Otis Livingston has two points, both at the free throw line, as St. Joe’s zone is collapsing quick and not allowing him room to drive. He’s 0-3 from the field. Mason is 1-8 from three and 9-27 overall in the first half. St. Joe’s is 9-29 as we’ve got ourselves a bit of a rockfight. Nick Robinson leads all scorers with 9 for St. Joe’s, while no one else is over 6 points. Justin Kier is 2-5 with 4 assists, and he’s looked good getting into the lane and dishing, but he’s had some trouble finishing.
The good news is that Calixte was held to five minutes in the first half, and he probably plays a whole lot more in the second half if he can stay out of foul trouble. He’s 2-2 from the field and will be good to have to help bust St. Joe’s zone. Mason was small for the final few minutes of the half and gave up a few offensive rebounds.
3:57 first half: Mason 21, St. Joe’s 19
Greg Calixte picked up his second foul just after the U12 timeout. He’s been replaced by AJ Wilson, who has one block on a volleyball spike into the crowd and is battling his ass off again on the boards. When AJ goes to the bench Mason has been really small, with Goanar playing the defensive 5. Somehow Mason is winning the points in the paint battle 12-8 despite the size issues.
Mason opens the game 1-8 from three for the second day in a row. Goanar is 0-3 but he’s getting open looks, while Jaire Grayer is 1-2 from deep and has 7 rebounds already. It’s encouraging that Mason is keeping pace despite Otis not getting going yet (0-2) and the threes not falling. St. Joe’s star Shavar Newkirk is 1-5 so far and appears to be forcing it on drives a little bit.
11:54 second half: St. Joe’s 12, Mason 8
Justin Kier starts the game on Shavar Newkirk. Mason’s ball movement looked good early but it’s been a little sloppy in the last few minutes, as they’re having trouble getting good looks. Neither team is shooting well, with Mason 3-14 and Joe’s 4-11. A couple threes from St. Joe’s have them keeping pace. St. Joe’s starts a pretty big frontcourt with 6’9″ Taylor Funk and 6’10” Anthony Longpre, who can both step outside and finish at the rim. Longpre has already hit a three, and Funk has a couple finishes at the rim on post entry passes that have been lobbed right over the defenders. St. Joe’s doing a good job utilizing their size advantage so far.
Pregame: Obvious analysis, Mason is going to need some big contributions from players other than Otis. Saint Joe’s defensive scheme is similar to Mason’s – pack the paint, run teams off the line, and force them to take long twos. Mason will need threes from Javon Greene, Jaire Grayer, Goanar Mar, or someone else in order to keep pace. Saint Joe’s has been playing lights out lately, 6-1 in their last 7 with the only loss coming to Mason at the buzzer (without James Demery, one of their best players). Shavar Newkirk has returned to form recently, hitting 40% from 3 over his last six games. I’m curious to see if Paulsen rides with Javon Greene on Newkirk today given how well he did on Luwane Pipkins yesterday.
Game 1: VCU vs Rhode Island
Final: URI 76, VCU 67
Hurley rode a lineup of Russell, Dowtin, Robinson, Terrell, and Berry down the stretch. EC Matthews came back onto the floor with about a minute and a half left to close out the game. VCU was scoreless for almost five minutes of gametime before a Tillman bucket closed the deficit to 66-61 with just under two minutes to go. There was a ton of contact between he and Andre Berry, but the refs didn’t call anything. Stanford Robinson scored on a beautiful curl screen off an out-of-bounds play to stretch the lead back to seven with just over a minute remaining. Tillman missed the front end of a one-and-one on the other end, and VCU had to start fouling. De’Riante Jenkins hit two threes to keep the end of the game intriguing, but Rhode Island iced the game from the line, hitting all eight of their free throws in the final minute.
Justin Tillman’s career probably ended here tonight, but he had a monster game with 23 points, 15 rebounds, and what felt like a hundred fouls drawn on Rhode Island. Jeff Dowtin was Rhode Island’s MVP with 18 points on 7-10 shooting, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds. He hit some bigtime shots down the stretch when Rhode Island was struggling to score.
3:36 second half: URI 63, VCU 59
Jeff Dowtin has made a couple ONIONS plays here with Rhody’s other players struggling to score. Hit hit a big step-back three, then another big jumper from the baseline to help extend Rhody’s lead. Overall, Rhode Island is settling for jumpers rather than driving the lane – curious since Tillman is still in the game with four fouls. If he fouls out VCU is probably done. Langevine and Berry also have four fouls for Rhode Island. It looks like this is going to become a war of attrition in the frontcourt in the last few minutes.
10:23 second half: URI 55, VCU 53
In the course of typing all this, Justin Tillman picked up his fourth foul. That’s huge.
The teams exchanged soft moving screen calls out of the half – one on Andre Berry to give him three, then a make-up call on the other end on Justin Tillman, who picked up his third. Langevine came in for Berry but Tillman stayed in the game and got five quick points on a turnaround over Langevine and a three ball. Langevine, for his part, ripped an offensive rebound away from Tillman and got an easy putback. This is a really fun post battle here, and Stan Robinson also has 3 fouls. Hurley has had to play Nikola Akele a lot more than he probably wanted to.
Jeff Dowtin for Rhode Island is heating up, with a three and a long two with his foot on the line. He leads Rhody with 13. Johnny Williams for VCU hasn’t been able to get anything going – he missed a few shots at the rim, but just scored his first points on a tough finish. Fatts Russell has been great for Rhody, with a steal and a transition assist to Jared Terrell for three, and a three ball of his own.
Halftime: URI 36, VCU 33
Rhode Island ended that half on a 3 at the buzzer by Fatts Russell. They were tied before that. By my count Tillman drew two fouls on Andre Berry and Cyril Langevine and one foul on Stan Robinson. Rhode Island hasn’t had an answer for him and VCU is winning the points in the paint battle 18-14. Justin Tillman has 10 points on 3-5 shooting and 4-5 from the free-throw line. I’m curious to see how Rhody tries to guard him in the second half, or if he’s going to be able to foul out their whole frontcourt.
Rhode Island was a little sloppy with the ball and a few turnovers have led to easy baskets on VCU runouts. Neither team is shooting very well, with VCU 12-31 and Rhode Island 14-34. Rhody would also have a bigger margin if they were better than 3-8 from the line, including Jared Terrell missing the front end of a one-and-one.
Since I haven’t mentioned the atmosphere yet: it’s awesome. VCU obviously travels well, and Rhody brought a sizeable contingent as well. Second half coming up.
3:16 first half: URI 28, VCU 25
EC Matthews is heating up for Rhode Island. He’s got 9 already. Rhode Island is also beating VCU on the boards, with five offensive rebounds to VCU’s three. Cyril Langevine and Andre Berry both have two fouls as the whole VCU frontcourt is having trouble with Tillman. VCU’s getting good looks inside no matter who is on the floor. VCU was down 9 but battled back with a 3 from Isaac Vann and some Tillman free throws. Tillman just picked up his second as well, so he probably sits the rest of the half.
VCU went to a zone for a few possessions. Rhode Island got one point off Jeff Dowtin free throws from it but otherwise they’ve been flustered and are having trouble getting good looks. VCU Coach Mike Rhoades hasn’t gone zone for more than a few possessions all season long, so this is quite a surprise. He’s been holding this in his back pocket it looks like. This place is full of VCU fans and it is loud as hell in here.
11:33 first half: URI 18, VCU 13
VCU didn’t press until they came out of the U16 timeout, but they did spring a trap on Jeff Dowtin over halfcourt on the first possession that led to a breakaway layup. They’ve got four points off turnovers already. They also had a few buckets at the rim early as Andre Berry doesn’t offer much in the way of rim protection. Both teams are pushing the pace and getting contributions from all over.
Hurley put in his midget backcourt of Jarvis Garrett (6’0″) and Fatts Russell (5’9″, maybe) and De’Riante Jenkins immediately hit a three right in Garrett’s grill. Watching the personnel combinations the coaches go with is going to be a lot of fun. Also, for as much as I’ve talked about Andre Berry’s problems on defense, dude is polished with the ball in his hands. He’s got four points already. We got to timeout with EC Matthews (URI) going to the line to finish off an and-one from a sweet dunk.
Pregame: Rhode Island has been reeling lately, losing 3 of 5 coming into the tournament after looking invincible for the first 13 games of conference play. I still like them to win against a sloppy VCU team. I’ll be interested to see how much VCU presses today, since their press isn’t very effective and Rhode Island has the guard play to shred it. VCU also has trouble defending the paint, and Rhode Island has a solid scoring big man in Andre Berry, plus the athletic freak Cyril Langevine who’s been finishing really well around the rim lately. That, in addition to their core of guards who specialize in getting to the rim, gives them a big advantage. If they have a weakness it’s that their three-point shooting has abandoned them recently, as they’ve shot 25% or worse from deep in three of their last four.
VCU needs to feature Justin Tillman when Andre Berry is in the game. Rhode Island never plays Berry and Cyril Langevine at the same time, and Langevine can credibly defend Tillman while Berry can’t. Rhode Island brought a respectable crowd but this is a home atmosphere for VCU. Should be a fun one!
