No. 25 Rhode Island, Davidson to play for A-10 title (Mar 10, 2018)
WASHINGTON -- The Rhode Island Rams ran into their locker room Saturday, cutting through a hallway from the court at the Capital One Arena.
"Let's go! Let's go!" shouted one player after the Rams came back from a seven-point deficit to beat No. 4 seed Saint Joseph's 90-87 in the Atlantic 10 Conference championship tournament.
Where the No. 25 Rams are headed is the title game Sunday against No. 3 seed Davidson, which beat No. 2 seed St. Bonaventure 82-70 in the second semifinal as senior guard Peyton Aldridge had 24 points and freshman guard Kellan Grady had 23.
"Obviously, it was a pretty exciting semifinal Saturday," URI coach Dan Hurley said. "We have had a great season. We have a championship culture, a championship DNA. We showed it today."
The Rams (25-6) were paced by senior forward Andre Berry with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Sophomore guard Jeff Dowtin had 16 points and 10 assists, E.C. Matthews and Fatts Russell scored 14 each and guard Jared Terrell added 13.
Dowtin is from Upper Marlboro, Md., and played at St. John's College High in Washington, D.C.
URI hit a season-high 14 shots from 3-point range in 31 attempts and had 19 offensive rebounds.
"Last year we were much more back-against-the-wall," Hurley said. "We were fighting for our lives on the bubble coming in, but we were on a run. We were playing so well. At this year, we were kind of feeling safely in, and we lost our last two games, even though I thought we played well, you know, pretty well at Davidson, minus the last 40 seconds.
"But what we talked about is what it felt like on Sunday last year (in the title game), you know, landing (at the airport in Rhode Island) and having hundreds of fans. We want to experience that again. I mean, that's an exciting feeling. So what's what we've talked about."
The Rams are in the title game for the third year in a row.
Davidson is in the championship for the first time in the conference after losing in the semifinals the past three seasons.
What will Davidson coach Bob McKillop tell his team about the title game?
"I have not even thought about that at this point. I will spend the next two or three hours putting my thoughts together. At this point I am a jumbled mess in terms of my mind," he said.
The co-player of the year in the conference is Aldridge.
"The last three years we got to the semifinals and were unable to pull it out," Aldridge said. "We knew we had to finish it. It's a good feeling."
The Rams are also feeling good.
"It is definitely motivating," URI guard Stanford Robinson said of reaching the title game for the third year in a row. "One of our goals was to win the regular season and win the tournament."
Rhode Island had lost to Saint Joseph's by 30 points on the team's Senior Night in Kingston, R.I.
"We took that kind of personal," URI guard Russell said.
No. 1 seed Rhode Island won the regular-season title and upset Creighton in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Oregon last season.
Rhode Island led 82-75 on a 3-pointer by Terrell but the Hawks, who had six players in double figures, cut the margin to 84-81.
Dowtin had an off-balance 3-pointer with 19.3 seconds left to make it 87-81.
"Coach drew up an amazing play," Dowtin said. "I saw an opening and took a shot. I was able to make it."
Terrell made two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to make it 90-87 and seal the win.
