A10 Semifinals Liveblog!

Welcome A10 fans to the semifinals liveblog! We’ve got two great games on tap with Rhode Island-Saint Joe’s about to tip and Davidson-Saint Bonaventure on deck. Both favorites lost to the underdog in the regular season; both favorites look vulnerable; and both underdogs have been on fire recently. Should be a great one.

Game 2: Davidson vs Saint Bonaventure

Final: Davidson 82, Bonaventure 70

Kellan Grady hit an onions three to extend the lead to 11 with under two minutes left, and that was all she wrote. Again Davidson picked on Ikpeze – he hedged hard again on a high ball screen, Magarity slipped to the paint, got the ball, and fired out to the perimeter because Taqqee had to leave his man to defend the paint. Quite a sequence there.

Jaylen Adams had a three-point play as the Bonnies kept battling, but they had to start fouling with over a minute left and Davidson always has good shooters on the floor. None of their desperation threes fell, and the result is a final margin that doesn’t illustrate what a good game this was. Losing Stockard really killed the Bonnies today since they couldn’t put together a lineup that could defend Davidson’s abundance of shooters.

2:50 second half: Davidson 72-, Bonaventure 65

There was one possession where somehow Rusty Riegel ended up anchoring the 2-3 zone and Ikpeze got an easy layup over him. That was fun. Ikpeze has 12 as he and Taqqee are stepping into the scoring roles that the Bonnies needed from them today.

In any case, Davidson can’t miss from three, and the Bonnies are only scoring two at a time. Kellan Grady just hit a layup over contact to draw the foul from Ikpeze. He’ll go to the line for the three-point play to stretch Davidson’s lead to eight. Davidson is 14-25 from the field this half and the Bonnies won’t win this one without figuring out how to generate stops.

6:59 second half: Davidson 60, Bonaventure 57

Bonnies went small with a lineup of Mobley, Adams, Griffin, Taqqee, and a guy named Tsiefu (we’ll call him Chef). Davidson immediately got two buckets inside the arc. Ikpeze came back onto the floor. I don’t think Schmidt liked the small look, and we’ll see plenty of Ikpeze, for better or worse, as the game rolls on. Ikpeze hedged hard on a ball screen that Will Magarity set, and Magarity slipped to the rim for an easy bucket. Davidson is going to keep picking on Ikpeze.

Idris Taqqee has been a difference maker with 8 points here in the second half on 4-4 shooting. Jaylen Adams also has 7 points and 3 assists, so he’s getting going as well. Davidson has been doubling him off ball screens and trying to force him to give the ball up early in possessions.

The Bonnies brought out a great crowd and it is freaking LOUD in here. It was the loudest it’s been all weekend after a Jaylen Adams bucket to cut the lead to one.

15:01 second half: Davidson 50, Bonaventure 44

Rusty Riegel started the second half as McKillop decides to keep riding him. He’s guarding Idris Taqqee, who’s not really a scorer, but Taqqee has four points already this half and 9 in the game.

Amadi Ikpeze has been playing the 5 for Bonaventure and it looks like a bad game for him. Oskar Michelsen has already hit two threes. Davidson always has five shooters on the floor so bigs like Ikpeze that have trouble defending the perimeter will get picked on. This is also where losing Stockard hurts the Bonnies – I don’t know if they can afford to go small without Stockard, who’s a key part of that look for them.

Davidson is 3-5 from three and 5-7 overall this half. Again, they look terrifying. Bonnies need to figure out how to get stops before this one gets out of hand.

Halftime: Davidson 37, Bonaventure 31

Davidson was 10-18 from three that half and 3-6 inside the arc. They’re actually shooting better from distance. Tough to beat a team that can do that, but probably a good sign for the Bonnies that they are only down six. Bad news for the Bonnies – Josh Ayeni went down in pain at the end of the half after skying for a rebound. It looked like he hurt his right knee. He was helped off by trainers and was barely putting weight on that foot going off the court. The Bonnies are all Matt Mobley and Jaylen Adams right now and they’ll need contributions from the supporting cast to keep up in the second half.

Rusty Riegel is getting a ton of minutes at the expense of Kishawn Pritchett for Davidson. McKillop must like something about that matchup. Riegel’s 2-3 from three and has 2 assists already, and Davidson has 11 assists on 13 made baskets.

3:45 first half: Davidson 27, Bonaventure 24

Ladarien Griffin guards Peyton Aldridge about as well as anyone can, but Aldridge is a walking bucket so it doesn’t matter too much. He’s 3-5 and 2-2 from deep. Davidson has gone inside the arc on the last few trips, and it opened up a corner three from Kellan Grady when his man lost him to collapse on the driving guard. This offense is clicking right now.

Mobley is up to 11 and Jaylen Adams has 5 for the Bonnies, who got a nice finish through contact from Izaiah Brockington, but he couldn’t finish the three-point play. He figures to get a lot of minutes in Courtney Stockard’s absence and the Bonnies will need him to score. He’s only a freshman but he’s flashed serious potential at times throughout the season.

7:02 first half: Davidson 22, Bonaventure 15

Missed the first four minutes of the game because I was engrossed by Phil Martelli’s presser. He’s one of the best in the business at actually thinking through questions and trying to give good answers. I’ll post some stuff from his presser when the transcripts are available.

As far as Davidson-Bonaventure, this should be interesting. Bonnies like to mix defenses throughout the game, but as we learned yesterday zoning Davidson is suicide. They’ve been mostly man from what I’ve seen, but the threes are falling for Davidson anyway. Bonaventure got roasted from behind the arc by Richmond yesterday and nearly blew a 17 point lead with six minutes left. Davidson’s first 14 shots have been from behind the arc, which is bananas. Matt Mobley of St. Bonaventure has 8 already but Jaylen Adams is off to a quiet start again with only 3 points.

I also neglected to mention that Courtney Stockard is out which is a big blow for the Bonnies. He’s their third leading scorer, and the Bonnies are kind of a two-man team (plus a litte Ladarien Griffin) when he’s not around. We’ll see if they struggle to score.

Game 1: Rhode Island vs Saint Joseph’s

FInal: URI 90, Saint Joe’s 87

Shavar Newkirk didn’t play the last two minutes as Saint Joe’s season came to a painful end. Jeff Dowtin hit some massive shots, including a turnaround in the paint and a dagger three-ball. The Hawks kept fighting with big threes in the final minute from Oliva and Nick Robinson, but ultimately it wasn’t enough. They looked like a bid thief for a while and it took a huge effort from Rhode Island to get past them. Jared Terrell played one of his worst games in recent memory (3-14 shooting) but also hit a massive three in the game’s final minutes. For St. Joe’s, Anthony Longpre and Nick Robinson posted career games.

4:05 second half: URI 79, Saint Joe’s 75

Some great action here as Rhody’s Jarvis Garrett hit a couple threes, then EC Matthews finished a three-point play to cut the lead to 70-68. The Hawks are still scoring and getting good looks, but Demery missed an absolute bunny at the rim that he finishes 99% of the time. Saint Joe’s did a good job of getting their wings inside against Rhody’s small guard tandem while they were still on the floor.

Crazy sequence as St. Joe’s Oliva only hit 1 of 2 free throws, then Rhody’s Fatts Russell got his own rebound off a missed three and layed one in, then got a steal and a drive-and-dish to Langevine, who finished a three point play to give Rhody a 73-71 lead for the first time this half. Shavar Newkirk hit an impossible shot that went off the top of the backboard to tie, but missed the and-one opportunity. Fatts Russell then hit two threes on three possessions and all of a sudden Rhode Island is up 79-75. They were down 51-40 at one point but have exploded for 39 points this half.

10:31 second half: Saint Joe’s 65, URI 57

Things got loud in here after a Jeff Dowtin three-point play cut the lead to four at 55-51. Rhody brought out a good crowd. Shavar Newkirk answered with a three-point play of his own. He looks fine.

For Rhode Island, Jared Terrell is 2-11 shooting and hasn’t looked like himself all game. Stan Robinson is 1-8 and that combination really hurts Rhody’s chances. No one is defending particularly well either as St. Joe’s is 6-12 from the field this half.

Rhode Island played some minutes with their super-small backcourt of Jarvis Garrett and Fatts Russell, and it’s helping their spacing on offense, but open shots haven’t been falling. Saint Joe’s got a three from Taylor Funk off an offensive reboudn, and they’ve had an answer every time Rhode Island has started to make a run.

15:22 second half: Saint Joe’s 55, URI 48

Hurley took a timeout just over a minute into the half after two quick Saint Joe’s baskets stretched the lead to 11. Joe’s is getting a ton of 1 on 1 action given how spread out Rhode Island’s defense is, and it’s working to their advantage.

Anthony Longpre continues to be the mismatch that no one expected. He’s doing a much better job defending Andre Berry this half, and he cooked Berry when he got the ball on the wing for an easy layup. Berry went to the bench for Cyril Langevine, who’s now sticking to Longpre.

Shavar Newkirk went down hard on a missed layup and hobbled off the court. He’s on the bench and not being attended to, but keep an eye on his ankle when he comes back. Hopefully he’s fine, because he’s on triple double watch with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Halftime: Saint Joe’s 47, URI 40

After a foul call on Jared Terrell where it looked like Newkirk tripped on his own, Danny Hurley stared down a ref for almost the entirety of a timeout. He’s still as locked in as he ever was.

Rhody got two threes from Jared Terrell and Jeff Dowtin to cut into the lead, but Saint Joe’s responded with a three-point play from Nick Robinson where he got EC Matthews up in the air, leaned into the contact, and hit an elbow jumper. That was nice. Stan Robinson from URI back-rimmed a shot in the paint at the buzzer that would have closed the deficit to five.

Saint Joe’s is 19-34 from the field and 6-12 from three. Rhody needs to come out of the locker room with some answers. Rhody is 6-14 from three, but only 7-18 from inside the arc. Berry has 6 of those twos and Jeff Dowtin has the other. Jared Terrell and EC Matthews need to get inside if Rhody’s going to hang in the second half.

3:47 first half: St. Joe’s 40, URI 32

Taylor Funk can’t guard Andre Berry either. He’s 6-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, and has only come up empty once. St. Joe’s is trying to front him and Rhody’s guards have thrown some beautiful entry passes to him. Joe’s has been exclusively zone but they did have an interesting look where James Demery ended up anchoring the 2-3 despite the much bigger Oliva and Longpre being on the floor. They were guarding the wings.

It feels like Joe’s offense has to cool off at some point, but Rhody has to be concerned about their defense. Joe’s just keeps getting good looks, including a layup by Demery at the rim where his defender lost him in the halfcourt and he was wide open. Joe’s is now 17-29 from the field and winning the points in the paint battle 22-12.

7:56 first half: St. Joe’s 33, URI 26

Rhody is still taking threes, but they’ve worked the ball into the paint first and had some open looks. On other possessions they’re settling. They are 4-10 from deep and 10-19 from the field. Cyril Langevine picked up two quick fouls and will likely sit the rest of the half, but Andre Berry replaced him and has 10 points already. He keeps getting the ball in the paint and the combination of Oliva and Longpre can’t stop him.

All three of St. Joe’s bigs have hit threes now, as Pierfrancesco Oliva added one. St. Joe’s is 14-22 from the field because threes are falling and there’s all sorts of space in the paint for them to operate. Anthony Longpre has 11 points on 4-4 shooting from deep. This game started as well as St. Joe’s could have hoped, and it feels like they should be up a little more than 7.

14:24 first half: St. Joe’s 12, URI 10

Rhody has settled for five threes in the early going, which is surprising, but they’ve hit two. Andre Berry has a couple buckets in the paint already and I have to imagine Rhody is going to try and keep getting him the ball inside.

Saint Joe’s Taylor Funk is a mismatch on Satnford Robinson, as he scored over him in the paint and got switched off him and hit a three already. Anthony Longpre also hit a three. If Saint Joe’s bigs are hitting from deep tonight that’ll be a problem since Rhody’s defense will have to extend.

Pregame: Saint Joseph’s won the only meeting in the regular season by 30 points, the worst home loss ever suffered by a top-25 team to an unranked opponent. Rhode Island isn’t a great shooting team and St. Joe’s packed-in zone can exploit that weakness; half of Rhody’s field goal attempts were threes, which is not how they want to play. I bet we see a big emphasis on getting into the paint early from the Rams. For St. Joe’s, all bigs can shoot threes, which should help them bring Cyril Langevine and Andre Berry out of the paint and create space for Shavar Newkirk and James Demery at the rim. Let’s go!