Philly Teams in Semi-Finals
With St. Joseph’s convincing victory over Richmond, 61-47, and Temple’s win over a greatly improved La Salle squad, the semi-final games tonight will have a serious Philly flavor. St. Joe’s has looked strong, with two relatively easy wins over Fordham on Wednesday and Richmond on Thursday. In the latter game Pat Calathes had 11 points, Ahmad Nivens had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Rob Ferguson was a perfect 6 for 6, including 3 treys for 16 points.
In the postgame press conference, the always entertaining coach of the Hawks, Phil Martelli (pictured), went a little off topic when asked about how he saw playing Xavier in his next game.
“Any chance that you get to compete against a power I don’t care what it is, you're trying to get a job, trying to date a different girl … as long as you’re not married. I’m not talking like the governor of New York. You think people are just into basketball. I study the whole culture here. I think tomorrow night is an opportunity and I hope everybody is excited about the opportunity … Everything Xavier does is at the highest level, and that’s what we’re going to have to raise our level to. It’s an exciting opportunity for this program."
He then continued on and gave Boardwalk Hall and AC a nice shout out.
“I’ve been saying this. Atlantic City is the right place for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Tomorrow night you’re going to see it. You’re going to have a Philadelphia team in the second game; you’re going to have a Philadelphia team in the first game. The Expressway is going to be packed coming down, and I’ll be shocked if this place isn’t sold out.”
Dionte Christmas’ 29 points fueled the Temple win. Christmas has been living up to his title as the A-10’s top scorer. La Salle refused to give in and came back from a 14-point deficit to make it close, including a 13-2 run in the second half to briefly take the lead. Temple put the hammer down at the end of the contest, scoring the final 11 points. Mark Tyndale and Sergio Olmos each had 14 points.
In the other two games Thursday, Xavier won the battle of Ohio 74-65 as the determined, but tired Dayton Flyers ran out of juice after keeping it close against the X-Men. Dayton guard Marcus Johnson had a career high 26 points, but Dayton’s top player, guard Brian Roberts, was put in lock-down by the A-10’s defensive player of the year, Stanley Burrell. Roberts had 14 points, but he had to work for them. Xavier’s top scorer was Josh Duncan with 16 points, joined by four other Musketeers in double figures. Superb point guard Drew Lavender has seen his skills at driving to the hoop hindered by a sprained ankle, but he delivered some key 3-point goals.
In the most exciting game of the night, the Charlotte 49ers came back from an 18-point hole to shock the third seeded University of Massachusetts Minutemen 69-65. UMass was a bubble team, hoping to earn an at-large bid even if they didn’t win the A-10 Tournament. Losing their only game in the tournament has probably killed that dream. The 49ers dug in during the second half and played tremendous defense, making every shot tough for UMass, grabbing a ton of rebounds and taking advantage of every turnover. Leemire Goldwire, Charlotte’s dynamic scoring machine, is a leading candidate for the MVP of the tournament. He hit two big 3-point shot in the last minute of the game to earn the victory, finishing with 24 points. Lamont Mack had 23 points, and Charles Coley had 14 points and 17 rebounds.
Tonight St. Joe’s plays Xavier in the 6:30pm game, hoping to repeat their victory over the X-Men March 6, 71-66.
In the 9pm game, Temple will be facing the hottest team in the tournament, the Charlotte 49ers. The Owls split their two games with Charlotte, losing Jan. 12 at Charlotte 60-58 and beating them at home on Feb. 27, 75-61.
Phil Martelli is expecting a sellout tonight so don’t disappoint him.