March 31, 2010 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS – Virginia Commonwealth had pretty simple motivation to finish off the best-of-three CBI championship without a Game 3.

“Just trying to get home,” said Jamie Skeen, who hit a pair of crucial baskets in the final two minutes of the Rams’ 71-65 victory over Saint Louis on Wednesday night. “If we win, we get to go home.”

Top reserve Brandon Rozzell scored a career-high 27 points and was 4-for-7 from 3-point range, helping VCU beat Saint Louis for the second time in three nights.

“We wanted this to be our last game,” Rozzell said. “We kept that in mind.”

Saint Louis (23-13) led by nine at halftime and again early in the second half before fading with a roster of freshmen and sophomores. Game 3 would have been Friday night in St. Louis.

“It was a great experience for us,” coach Rick Majerus said. “It was an honor to play in it. We didn’t have a good year, we had a great year.”

Skeen added 16 points and six rebounds and Joey Rodriguez had 13 points for the Rams (27-9), who compensated for an off-game by leading scorer Larry Sanders. He was in foul trouble much of the game and held to three points and four rebounds. Sanders had 20 points and 12 rebounds in a 68-56 victory Monday in Richmond, Va.

First-year coach Shaka Smart said before the game he discussed finishing the year on a five-game winning streak. The Rams finished fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association and lost only twice in their final 12 games, both times to CAA champion Old Dominion.

“We talked about this as the knockout game,” Smart said. “For a while it didn’t look like there was going to be anybody knocking anybody out.

“It was won on the defensive end,” Smart said.

Willie Reed had 16 points, six rebounds and three blocks for Saint Louis. Freshman Corey Remekun added career-bests with 13 points and seven rebounds for the Billikens, who finished 18-4 at home.

Cody Ellis was held to three points, eight below his average, on 1-for-9 shooting. Saint Louis was 2-for-18 from 3-point range for a two-game total of 7-for-38.

“Cody’s had a great year; he hit that freshman wall,” Majerus said. “We get so many open shots and we can’t hit.

“I told these guys, ‘You’ve got to be able to make shots.”

Another guard, Kyle Cassity, had four assists and a steal in 33 minutes but didn’t attempt a shot because of an undisclosed injury.

“Cassity was just like a dying dog,” Majerus said. “I applaud the kid, he kept wanting to play.”

VCU outscored Saint Louis 9-2 to pull away from a 61-all tie with 3:04 remaining, with Remekun finally scoring for the Billikens with seven seconds left. Rozzell’s previous best was 20 points against College of Charleston on March 22.

Saint Louis had appeared to seize control with 7:18 to go in the half on a five-point play — Sanders’ second foul plus a technical that put the Billikens ahead 23-20. Saint Louis led 33-24 at the break.

March 29, 2010 | AP Press

RICHMOND, Va. – Joey Rodriguez scored 14 straight points during a decisive second-half surge to lead Virginia Commonwealth past Saint Louis 68-56 on Monday night in the first game of the championship series of the College Basketball Invitational.
“Joey can get it going,” said Ram coach Shaka Smart. “The thing that makes him dangerous — he led the CAA in assists. He’s a rhythm shooter and came off ball screens into the lane.”

Saint Louis rallied to cut the deficit to 3 points with 14:30 left, but Rodriguez took over during a 14-4 run that gave the Rams a 55-42 lead with 11:55 to go. Rodriguez hit three 3-pointers during the burst, including one that turned into a four-point play.

“They got the game to three (points),” said Rodriguez, “and I tried to make plays for my team.”

Rodriguez finished with a game-high 22 points and six assists, and Larry Sanders added 20 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for the Rams (26-9), who led by as many as 20.

“We didn’t match their intensity level,” Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus said. “We got stretched out (on defense). We’re not used to rotational changing.”

Willie Reed scored 11 points, and Kwamain Mitchell and Cody Ellis added 10 apiece for the Billikins (23-12).

The teams will play Game 2 of the best-of-three series in St. Louis on Wednesday.

Sanders and Brandon Rozzell each had four points during a 13-4 run over the final 4:02 of the first half to give the Rams a 36-25 lead at halftime.

“The coaches told me to go out and be aggressive,” said Sanders. “I think (my play) has a huge effect on the game and my teammates. I’ve never finished the season with a win.”

Smart was happy with his team’s play.

“Most of the game, we were able to get the tempo at our pace,” he said. “We got our hands on a lot of basketballs tonight.”

Sanders scored 14 points in the first half.

“Larry was really good tonight,” Smart said. “He set the tone for the game.”

The Billikins were ahead 13-12 with 7:55 left in the half before the Rams hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions for a 21-15 lead.

March 24, 2010 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS – Kwamain Mitchell scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half, leading Saint Louis to a 69-59 victory over Princeton on Wednesday night in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational.

The Billikens (23-11) will play Virginia Commonwealth (25-9) in the best-of-3 championship series beginning Monday.

Mitchell triggered a 16-4 run over the final 7:25 of the first half to put Saint Louis ahead to stay, 38-29.

Willie Reed added 20 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Billikens, who won for the 11th time in 14 games. It was his ninth double-double this season.

Kareem Maddox paced Princeton (22-9) with 16 points and Douglas Davis added 14. The Tigers had their six-game winning streak snapped.

The 69 points were the second-most given up by the Tigers this season. Princeton entered allowing an NCAA-low 52.8 points per game.

March 22, 2010 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS - On Monday night, Saint Louis University hosted UW-Green Bay in the 2nd round of the CBI. Willie Reed tied his career scoring high and registered game highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds Monday night as Saint Louis advanced to the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational with a 68-62 double-overtime victory over Green Bay at Chaifetz Arena.

The Billikens (22-11), who improved to 3-2 in overtime games this season – with all three victories coming in two extra sessions (Duquesne, Dayton) – will host Princeton in a semifinal matchup Wednesday at 8 p.m. The Tigers also were a double-overtime winner Monday, defeating IUPUI 74-68 in Indianapolis. The other semifinal will match Virginia Commonwealth and Boston University

Reed, who was 8-of-11 from the field and chalked up his eighth double-double of the season, also tallied two blocks to break Kelvin Henderson’s 30-year-old single-season school record. Reed has 69 rejections, one more than Henderson registered in the 1979-80 campaign. Kwamain Mitchell and Cody Ellis scored 14 points apiece, with Ellis collecting eight rebounds and Mitchell adding four assists. All of Ellis’ points came in the second half and overtime. Kyle Cassity distributed a game-high six assists, tying his career high, while Brian Conklin chipped in six rebounds as Saint Louis earned a 43-36 advantage on the glass.

Green Bay (22-13) was led by Troy Cotton, who hit five 3-pointers on the way to a 17-point total. Rahmon Fletcher scored 16 points and Rian Pearson contributed 14. Randy Berry (seven rebounds), Matt Smith (six) and Pearson (six) led the Green Bay rebounding effort, and Cotton picked up a game-high four steals.

March 16, 2010 | AP Press

St. Louis Post Dispatch – If St. Louis University felt slighted by not being chosen for the NIT, the Billikens began to make their case that they deserved better on Tuesday.

SLU came out firing against Indiana State, making seven of its first eight shots and racing to a 17-4 lead on its way to a 63-54 victory over the Sycamores in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational at Chaifetz Arena. The Billikens (21-11) now get nearly a week off before their next game, which will be on Monday at Chaifetz against either Akron or Green Bay, which play tonight.

It also was a big step toward wiping out the bad memories of the Rhode Island loss, in which SLU didn’t play well at all. Whichever way SLU goes from here, at least the season isn’t ending on that game.

“I was ready to play another game because the sting from the Rhode Island game really hurt,” guard Kwamain Mitchell said. “When we came back, everyone was watching TV to see if we made the NIT, so we didn’t make it there but Coach told us we had a chance to play in the CBI. It was fun to go back out there.”

“I thought the guys responded well,” SLU coach Rick Majerus said, “especially psychologically. If a million people are in my ear (about the NIT), imagine how many people are in their ear.”

Mitchell had 19 points, including a run of eight in a row early in the second half that included his first dunk at SLU. Willie Reed had 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, leaving him one shy of the school single-season record. SLU was in control throughout, though the game got a little dicey late in the second half when an 11-0 run for Indiana State cut SLU’s lead to eight.

SLU felt it deserved a spot in the NIT after finishing in fourth place in the Atlantic 10, but the NIT chose two other A-10 schools, Rhode Island and Dayton, ahead of it, teams that finished behind SLU in the A-10 standings but had better RPIs. Now, they’ll use the CBI as a chance to get their young team some postseason experience.

The most telling part of the game were the opening minutes. Unlike the Rhode Island game, SLU came out with vigor, enthusiasm and, most important, good shooting. Mitchell hit two 3-pointers, Kyle Cassity drove to the basket to score, Cody Ellis hit a 16-footer, Reed made a spin move to score, Christian Salecich made a 10-footer, Brian Conklin scored from close range and SLU had six players score in less than 5 minutes.

“We were more confident,” Mitchell said. “Against Rhode Island, some guys weren’t prepared to play at a high level and it hurt us, obviously, so we didn’t get the win.”

SLU led by as many as 18 in the first half and by 13 at the break. SLU ran its lead to 19 with 7:16 to play and looked to have wrapped things up before going almost 6 minutes without scoring and seeing the lead cut to eight. But there wasn’t enough time left for Indiana State to get all the way back, and SLU made its free throws to close out the win.

AP Photo

March 12, 2009 | AP Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — B.J. Raymond had 18 points to lead No. 19 Xavier to a 66-47 victory over Saint Louis in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 championship on Thursday.

C.J. Anderson added 15 points and Jason Love had 10 for top-seeded Xavier (25-6, 13-4). The Musketeers meet the winner of Thursday’s second quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Temple and fifth-seeded Saint Joseph’s on Friday night.

Kevin Lisch had 13 points to lead the ninth-seeded Billikens (18-14, 8-9), and Willie Reed added 10.

Xavier used a 14-0 run spanning 4:28 of both halves to take control of the game.

Raymond banked in a 30-footer at the first-half buzzer to cap a 7-0 spurt that gave the Musketeers a 35-25 lead.

Xavier then opened the second half by scoring the first seven points to take a 42-25 lead with 17:30 left.

St. Louis never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.

AP Photo

March 11, 2009 | AP Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Kwamain Mitchell scored 18 points, including a layup with 1.8 seconds left in overtime, to lift Saint Louis to a 62-60 victory over La Salle in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Kevin Lisch added 11 points for the Billikens (18-13, 9-8), who snapped a three-game losing streak to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals against No. 19 Xavier, the tourney’s top seed. Rodney Green had a game-high 24 points for the Explorers (18-13, 9-8), while Kimmani Barrett had 10 points.

Green’s floater gave La Salle a 60-58 lead with 1:10 left in overtime, but Tommie Liddell tied it with a layup with 42 seconds left. After La Salle’s Darryl Partin missed a layup with 10 seconds left, Mitchell drove right and scored on a high-arcing layup to put St. Louis up two.

Green’s desperation shot from halfcourt at the buzzer missed.

Starting Thursday afternoon, John Lamb of A10CollegeHoops.com will be courtside at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ to bring you live coverage of the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Conference Tournament. We will be giving you with live updates throughout the day. If it happens on the court, you will read about it right here.

With so many players, media personalities and other distinguished guests in the house you can bet that we will have plenty of interviews and other features to keep you busy in-between sessions. John will also be running a live blog for each game in case you don’t have access to television or radio.

Keep it here even after your favorite team experiences the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat as we will be sharing audio from all of the post game press conferences that take place throughout the week.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please feel free to contact us via the link at the top of the page, by posting in the comments section or reaching out to us during one of the live blogs.

Finally, here is a down and dirty version of how John thinks tomorrow’s set of games will play out.

#8 La Salle vs. #9 St. Louis – This is certainly an interesting matchup as these two teams played this passed Saturday. Just like the last meeting, La Salle walk out with the W and move on to Day 2 of the tournament. This time they will do it by beating St. Louis at their own game: defense. This will be an ugly, defense-first kind of game.  EXPLORERS 62, BILLIKENS 54

#5 Saint Joseph’s vs. #12 Charlotte – SJU handled the 49ers in their previous matchup back in January but that was then and this is now. Neither team is really setting the world ablaze as Charlotte has dropped four of five since upsetting Xavier at Halton Arena and the Hawks have played .500 ball to the tune of 7-7 since defeating Charlotte. Although Coach Martelli has been justifying playing four of his five starters for 34 minutes-plus a game by saying that they are t0o young to be tired, it looks like the Hawks are running on fumes. Charlotte pulls off the minor ‘upset’ and we will be left wondering just how good Ahmad Nivins would have been if he had a complete team around him. 49ERS 74, HAWKS 67

#7 Duquesne vs. #10 Massachusetts – The resurgent Dukes of Duquesne played Umass in late February in Amherst and walked away with a 17 point victory. Massachusetts has talented players in  Chris Lowe, Tony Gaffney and Ricky Harris but they haven’t fully absorbed Derek Kellogg’s system. The Dukes, on the other hand, have become a dangerous team in league play under third-year coach Ron Everhart. Gone are the days of Duquesne being an automatic ‘W’ as this squad is for real and could give Rhode Island some serious competition. The Dukes lost by two to the Rams on March 1 and would love nothing better than to end URI’s season. DUKES 83, MINUTEMEN 71

#6 Richmond vs. #11 St. Bonaventure – This is an intriguing match up as one of the Bonnies six A-10 victories came at the expense of the Spiders back in January. Coming into this game there are those that are calling Richmond a dark horse to win it all. I suppose beating the best team in the conference on your home floor can get people talking about you. The Spiders have one of the best young coaches in the game in Chris Mooney and two talented guards: David Gonzalvez and Kevin Anderson. The Bonnies have a tremendous talent of their own in the form of A-10 Rookie of the Year Andrew Nicholson. While I think that Richmond will win the game and go on to face Dayton on Thursday, St. Bonaventure may very well be a force in the Atlantic 10 next year. The Bonnies will return four of their five starters and all but one of their contributing bench players. Mark Schmidt should be commended for the job he is doing with a program that was once a laughingstock. SPIDERS 67, BONNIES 61

John Lamb can be reached at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

AP Photo

March 7, 2009 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS — Rodney Green scored 24 points and LaSalle overcame an early 14-point deficit to defeat Saint Louis 68-62 in an Atlantic 10 Conference game on Saturday night.

The Explorers (18-12, 9-7 A-10) ended the regular season with their fourth straight victory. They did so after falling behind 22-8 with 10:58 to play in the first half. Darryl Partin and Vernon Goodridge each tallied 13 points in the victory.

The Billikens (17-13, 8-8 A-10), who dropped their third straight, got a career-high 26 points from freshman Kwamain Mitchell. Willie Reed scored 13 points and Kevin Lisch added 10.

The Billikens opened up a 42-33 lead after Mitchell knocked down a 3-pointer with 15:19 to play in the game. But the Explorers used a 17-3 run over the next eight minutes to gain a lead they would never relinquish.

The Explorers shot 58 percent from the field in the second half (14-for-24) and outscored the Billikens 40-28 after trailing 34-28 at the half.

AP Photo

March 4, 2009 by Josh Taylor | A10CollegeHoops

PITTSBURGH, PA. — For the second year in a row, Duquesne hosted Saint Louis at the A.J. Palumbo Center for their season home finale, and just like the previous meeting, the Dukes walked away with a win. A strong second half by sophomore forward Bill Clark and a clutch performance by senior guard Aaron Jackson helped the Dukes secure a 70-68 victory over the Billikens.

Jackson, in his last scheduled home game of his career, scored 23 points, including the final 11 for Duquesne, with five rebounds and seven assists. Clark scored 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 17 in the second half.

Duquesne started out with Jackson in his customary role as the team’s catalyst, scoring on a layup and then assisting on one by Melquan Bolding to go out to an early 4-0 lead. Saint Louis finally got on the board with two layups by Kwamain Mitchell, and then a three-pointer by Kevin Lisch gave them their first lead, 7-6. Lisch scored 10 in the first half and tied Jackson for the game high.

Duquesne regained the lead, and then freshman guard Eric Evans went on a run of his own, scoring six straight points for the Dukes and scoring 10 in the half. His layup with 8:44 remaining in the half put the Dukes up, 16-13.

“We realized the mismatch on Eric,” Jackson said. “We knew right away that it’s hard for them to guard him off the dribble, and he established that early in the game. He played a heck of a game for us.”

Saint Louis eventually cut Duquesne’s lead to one, but Evans’ three-pointer with 2:09 remaining extended it back to four. He then made one of two free throw attempts to put the Dukes up, 27-22, with 58 seconds to go.

“I thought Eric Evans was big for us at times,” Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said, “and I thought Bolding was big for us at times early in the game.”

After that, it was Lisch’s turn to respond, hitting a three of his own to make it 27-25 with 36 seconds left.

“We’re not going to miss him anymore, I’ll tell you that.” a smiling Everhart said of Lisch, who tied a career high with six made from behind the arc. “He’s a hell of a player.”

Duquesne was in position to take the final shot of the half, but a turnover by Bolding led to a last-second layup by Mitchell and a foul on freshman forward Oliver Lewinson. But Mitchell’s chance for a three-point play and the lead didn’t go in, and the two teams went into the half tied at 27.

The second half started with a reprise of how the first ended, alternating three-point shots by Evans and Lisch. But then Bill Clark knocked down his first of five threes on the night to put Duquesne up, 33-20. Saint Louis took a 36-35 lead on a layup by Barry Eberhardt, but Clark knowcked down another three and gave the Dukes the lead back.

“It was big for us,” Everhart said of Clark’s second half. “The only guy that has defended Billy Clark this year is Billy Clark. I hope that he can continue to keep his composure and play in our upcoming games the way he played in the second half because he was huge for us.”

“I said, ‘let me shoot as many shots as I can before I foul out,’” Clark said, tongue-in-cheek about his late surge. “I think, as everyone in here knows, I’m good at fouling, and the refs pretty much hate me, regardless, at home. So I figure I might as well get as many shots as I can before I foul out, and I ended the game with four fouls. Mission accomplished.”

Clark’s third three with 11:42 remaining put Duquesne up by seven, but then Saint Louis went on a 20-9 run over the next 7:35 to take the lead back. Lisch’s two free throws with 4:09 remaining gave the Billikens a 60-53 lead.

Duquesne struck back with an 11-4 run, including Clark’s last two three-pointers and five straight points by Jackson to tie the game at 64 with 1:43 left. Jackson then hit six straight free throws after Eberhardt converted one of two to put Duquesne ahead, 70-65.

During that run, Lisch missed two attempts from behind the arc in the last 33 seconds to keep the Billikens close. His last attempt missed with five seconds left, and Jackson pulled down the rebound, helping to stave off the late-game threat.

“We told our guys in the timeout exactly what they were going to do,” Everhart said of Duquesne’s expectation for Lisch to get the ball. “I kind of rolled the dice telling our guys that because I didn’t know for sure that’s what they were going to do, but they did and Damian [Saunders] was right on it. I thought he really got out quick enough and got high enough to bother his shot, but with Lisch, he’s capable of making that.”

Jackson was fouled after the rebound, and stood at the line with a chance to put the game out of reach. He hit both free throws from the double bonus and sealed it for the Dukes. Duquesne then called a 30-second timout, and after the break, the Duquesne fans gave a standing ovation, chanting, “AA-RON! AA-RON!”

“It was a really cool feeling,” Jackson said about the end of the game. “I try not to get too emotional. The crowd, knowing it’s my last game ever, is probably something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Mitchell’s long three-pointer from half court counted at the buzzer, but it would only count to cut the final gap to two points. The game had already been won, and the victors held their veteran leader at the heart of it.

“It’s his last home game, so you feel you want to win,” Clark said. “I’d say this game is for Aaron; not for ourselves, but for Aaron.”

For the senior who endured a 3-24 season as a freshman and a horrific campus shooting that wounded him and four of his teammates as a sophomore, Jackson was able to look fondly upon ending his career as a contributor to back-to-back winning seasons at Duquesne for the first time since the 1980-81 season.

“When you look at Duquesne on the A-10 schedule, you don’t say, ‘Oh, here’s Duquesne, this is a guaranteed win,’” Jackson said. “When you play Duquesne, it’s like, ‘We’re going to have to give them our best shot.’ Words cannot express how happy I am to be a part of this new era of the Duquesne Dukes.”

“I talked to our kids before we walked out of the locker room tonight, and I said to them, ‘this is the last game this guy is going to play in this arena,’” Everhart said. “‘Make sure this is a night he’s going to remember the right way, not the wrong way because someday he’s going to have to tell his kids what happened the last night you played in your gym.’ I’m very excited they were able to do that.”

Both teams will close out the regular season Saturday, with Duquesne visiting Dayton and Saint Louis hosting LaSalle. The Atlantic 10 Championships will commence on March 11 in Atlantic City.