Dayton, Fordham Advance to Quarterfinals

In Wednesday afternoon's Altantic 10 Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament first round doubleheader in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, #8 Dayton took #9 Charlotte, 81-63, while #5 Fordham held off a tough Richmond team (#12), 63-61.

In the noon game, Charlotte grabbed a 13-10 lead at 12:48 of the first half, holding the edge though the first five minutes of the second half. The lead seesawed between Dayton and the 49ers until Brian Roberts hit a trey with 9:22 left, to put the Flyers in charge, 53-50. UD had control of the game from then on, strolling away to their 18-point win.

Roberts led four Dayton players in double-digits with 24 points. Charles Little and Norman Plummer pulled down eight rebounds apiece and London Warren had eight assists for the 19-11 Ohio team which will face state-rival and no. 1 seed Xavier (23-7) for the third time this season, Thursday at noon. XU won both prior matches, 83-67 at XU's Cintas Center on Jan. 27, and 75-67 on the 24th of Feb. at the UD Arena.

Charlotte (14-16) was led by Leemire Goldwire's 23 points. De'Angelo Alexander had six rebounds and Carlos Williams six assists and two steals.

The Richmond - Fordham match was a tussle from start to finish. The CTSV GameTracker game flow is mindful of a DNA string.

The Spiders led by as many as six in the first half, the last time at 20-14. Bryant Dunston's layup put the Rams on top 29-27 on the way to a 31-28 halftime lead.

Dan Geriot's bucket gave Richmond 32-31 lead, erased by Dunston's dunk a minute later. Both teams would go up by four in the half, the last one by Fordham at 59-54 with 2:28 to go.

Oumar Sylla's jumper, Geriot's layup and Peter Thomas's basket on a steal by Brian Morris gave underdog UR a 61-59 edge, with 44 seconds left to play and Thomas at the line for a possible three-point play.

Thomas missed the attempt. Marcus Stout's layup tied the game. Stout, also in position for a three-point play, made that attempt to put FU up 62-61 with 30 seconds remaining.

Richmond had two attempts to score but was unable to convert. Fordham's Sebastian Greene rebounded the miss and was fouled with 0.4 seconds on the clock. Greene made the first FT (63-61) and appeared to intentionally miss the second to secure the win, theereby avoiding a last-second UR miracle.

Fordham (18-11), which meets #4 Rhode Island (17-13) in Thursday afternoon's second game, was led by Dunston's 21 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Stout added 17 points and gave out four assists as did Kevin Anderson.

Geriot's 27 points was the top performance of the afternoon. David Gonzalvez put in 19 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Gonzalvez and Morris also had four assists each with Morris recording a game-high three steals for the 8-22 Spiders.

The second first round doubleheader features #10 Duquesne (10-18) vs. #7 Saint Louis (18-12) followed by #11 Temple (12-17) facing Big 5 foe, #6 Saint Joseph's (17-13). Video streaming of all first round games are available live via the league office's arrangement with CSTV.