There was a full slate of games in the Atlantic 10 on Saturday, and it pretty much looks like it's Temple's league to lose now. They're a half-game up on second-place SLU and since they have the tiebreaker, SLU has to finish one game ahead of the Owls, meaning Temple has to lose at least twice. Left on Temple's schedule: St. Bonaventure, Duquesne, La Salle, St. Joseph's, UMass and Fordham. The Big Five games are also competitive, and the road trip to Bonnie can be tough, but the Owls are playing pretty well. And that's all predicated on SLU going unbeaten. If SLU loses once, Temple would have to lose three times.
Temple beat Xavier on Saturday by taking a big lead early and then keeping it intact. Ramone Moore had 30 points for Temple and may soon take the lead in conference player of the year discussions. As for Xavier, it's five-year run as A-10 regular-season champs may be at an end. Two games back of Temple and without the tiebreaker, the X-men need a three-game swing on the Owls.
St. Joseph's beat UMass 73-62 and kept alive its hopes for a first-round bye in the conference tournament. St. Joe's got 15 rebounds and six assists from forward Halil Kanecevic. Startling fact about Kanecevic, courtesy old friend Mike Jensen at the Philadelphia Inquirer: He's from Staten Island, N.Y. UMass is still in third in the league but has a tough stretch of games coming up.
Richmond, which is coming to SLU on Wednesday, dropped to 11th in the league with its 69-67 loss to George Washington. Richmond's top three guards missed 21 of 26 shots.
Andrew Nicholson had 21 points and 23 rebounds in St. Bonaventure's 69-48 win over Duquesne. For that reason alone, the Bonnies are a team to avoid in the A-10 tournament. It was the most rebounds by a Bonnie since Bob Lanier had 23 in 1970 and the second-most by a DI player this season.
Only the truly dedicated will care that Charlotte beat Rhode Island, 73-66, as the Rams re-settled back at the bottom of the league. And Dayton fans may have gone over the edge had the Flyers not pulled out an overtime win at Fordham.
And, for the record, La Salle coach John Giannini felt turnovers were the problem for his team in its loss to SLU. He's right.
