2026 Atlantic 10 Tournament: Round 2 Recap

After four more games in Pittsburgh on Thursday, we inch closer and closer to crowning the 2026 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Tournament Champion. Here are the major moments from all four games today.

Game 3: George Washington 66, Fordham 62

In their first meeting on January 31st, the Fordham Rams comfortably handled the George Washington Revolutionaries, winning 79-65 in Foggy Bottom. While that first meeting set the stage for a rematch, a lot can change for two programs in just under a month and a half. For Fordham, the Rams have been without Jack Whitbourn, who recorded a double-double in that first game, since February 3rd. For GW, the Revs had to play through their first meeting with the Rams without leading scorer Rafael Castro.

In the first half against Fordham, Castro recorded 4 points and 6 boards–en route to 15 and 9–as the Revs dominated the Rams through the first 20 minutes. Fordham, a team that’s relied on their rebounding efficiency this season, was pretty much neutralized off the glass in the first 20 minutes. GW outrebounded Fordham 27-9 in the first half, and to make things worse, the Revs sunk 3 second-chance three-pointers in the final 8 minutes before halftime.

“We knew there would be a thrust from them in terms of getting the ball to the basket, getting the offensive glass,” Revs head coach Chris Caputo said after the game.

GW entered the break up 38-17. Christian Jones led all scorers with 14 points at this point, shooting 3-4 from deep. He’d finish with 20. 

Despite the significant deficit, Fordham opened the second half with a reminder of how they earned 4 comeback wins in conference play. Hitting 6 of their first 9 attempts of the half, Fordham quickly cut the lead down to 15. Fordham guards Dae Dae Reaves (the league’s leading scorer) and Marcus Greene powered their way to the hoop to help get the Rams within as little as 2 points late. 

However, Fordham’s best efforts were not enough to completely erase the massive advantage built up by GW in the first half. Up 2 with 14 seconds remaining, Revs guard Jean Aranguren broke through Fordham’s full-court press to hit a layup in transition, drawing a Marcus Greene foul on the way up. Although he missed the ensuing free throw, his final bucket clinched a 66-62 GW win.

“This is the second time we've been in the Quarterfinals in the last two years,” Caputo said. “It doesn't sound like a big deal, but last year was the first time we've been in the Quarterfinals since 2017. So to be one of the eight teams left here is a good thing for us. We're excited about that.”

GW will take on 1-seed Saint Louis in the first quarterfinal game, tipping off at 11:30 AM.

Game 4: St. Bonaventure 63, George Mason 57

There’s nothing better than playing with house money. After taking down La Salle 99-80 in the pillow fight on Wednesday, the Bonnies looked to once again extend head coach Mark Schmidt’s tenure by one more game. Despite a much tougher opponent on day 2 in the 5-seeded George Mason Patriots, the Bonnies held their own early thanks to 8 first half points from Frank Mitchell.

Working almost entirely through the paint, Mitchell was 3 for his first 3 shots in a tight first 20 minutes. At 6’ 8”, 270, Mitchell had no issue making space for himself below the basket, and when he got the ball inside, he was able to make quick spins and hesitations for hook shots over Mason’s defenders. Despite just one year as a Bonnie for Mitchell, Schmidt highlighted their close relationship following the Bonnies’ second round win. According to Schmidt, Mitchell has spent a considerable amount of time at the head coach’s lakeside property dubbed “the Schmidt-insula.”

“It’s hard to build relationships in seven months, but it’s not hard to like Frank, as everybody knows,” Coach Schmidt said after the game.

Mitchell finished the game with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Whether or not that entitles him to another trip to the Schmidt-insula is unclear.

Despite Mitchell’s strong start, George Mason took a 10-point lead into halftime. 11 second chance points and 8 points off 6 Bonnies turnovers put the tempo of the first half right in the Patriots’ hands. Jahari Long, who finished the game with 17 points, hit all 3 of Mason’s first half three-pointers. Forward Riley Allenspach, named to the All-Atlantic 10 Second Team, figured out how to contend physically with Frank Mitchell as the half progressed as well, bodying his way in the paint to 8 points at the break. 

In the second half, Bonaventure flipped the script in key areas that Mason dominated in the first. In the final 20 minutes, the Bonnies outscored Mason 10-0 in the fast break, 12-0 off turnovers, and 10-2 in second chance points. After chipping away at Mason’s lead all half, the Bonnies finally took the lead on a Cayden Charles free throw to make it 56-55 Bonaventure with 3:40 to play. The Bonnies finished the game with clampdown defense, holding Mason scoreless for the final 2:28 of play. 

“I'm a firm believer that you win in those five boxes down at the bottom of the stat

sheet–points off turnovers, points in the paint, second-chance points, fast break points–you have a great chance,” Schmidt said. “And all those are really toughness things; physical and mental toughness areas.”

With the win, St. Bonaventure are the first 13-seed to advance to the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals. They will face 4-seed Dayton in the second quarterfinal game at 2:00 PM.

Game 5: Duquesne 67, Rhode Island 61

It’s been a long time since Archie Miller won a game in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Despite taking control of the Rhode Island Rams in 2022, his last A10 Tourney win came during his second-to-last year at Dayton, all the way back in the 2016 Quarterfinals over Richmond. Exactly 10 years and 1 day since that win.

Despite Rhody’s best efforts to break that streak, a hot start from Dru Joyce’s Duquesne Dukes quickly had the Rams fighting an uphill battle. Rhody kept pace pretty well against an efficient Dukes offense to start, with 3 early three-point jumpers from Tyler Cochran. While just enough to slow any early Dukes’ runs, they were not enough to snag the lead. Out of the under-12 timeout, Duquesne quickly extended their lead to 11 on back-to-back Alex Williams threes. 

While Rhody locked in on defense towards the end of the half to prevent Duquesne from pushing the lead any further, they could not capitalize on the other end. In a span that saw URI hold Duquesne scoreless from the 8:30 mark to the 4:25 mark of the first half, the Rams were only able to score 3 points of their own in that span.

“You just never know in the game what type of stretches you may go through,” Coach Joyce said after the game. “So we talk about those things. How are we going to react when adversity is going to hit us and challenge us and obstacles? What are we going to do? Who are we going to be? And we know we got to be resilient in those times. And I thought that's what we did.”

Their resiliency paid off, as Duquesne committed just one turnover all game against Rhode Island, their lowest total all season.

Duquesne played a very clean second half, defined in large part by consistent, solid defense. Despite 16 points from Tyler Cochran in the period, Duquesne held Rhody’s bench scoreless, scored 5 points off 6 Rams turnovers, and held Rhody to 8 points in the paint. 14 points from Tarence Guinyard and 11 from Alex Williams in the period were the cherry on top of a 67-61 Dukes win. Both players finished with 15 and 17 total, respectively.

Considering that this year’s tournament is in Pittsburgh, Coach Joyce hopes that this win can spark a greater showing of Duquesne fans to provide a homecourt atmosphere in the quarterfinals against VCU.

“First and foremost, a huge thank you to the students,” Coach Joyce said. “Not only the students. I believe we had faculty and administration show up, too. And just the city of Pittsburgh–I want to know what's going on in that bookstore, because I’ve seen more red and blue than before, so I think the city of Pittsburgh is continuing to show up for us, too.”

Duquesne takes on 4-seed VCU in the third quarterfinal game at 5:00 PM.

Game 6: Davidson 64, Loyola Chicago 59 (OT)

Mark Schmidt leading the 13-seed Bonnies to the quarterfinals? Peak Atlantic 10 cannibalism. Coach Drew Valentine on the verge of taking the 14-seed Loyola Chicago Ramblers to the quarterfinals? The final frontier of mid-major chaos. 

Up 24-19 against the Davidson Wildcats at halftime, coach Valentine’s Ramblers, who finished the regular season at 8-23, looked poised to clinch a spot in the final Friday game against St. Joe’s. Behind 10 points from Alexander Richardson, as well as a 16-10 advantage in paint scoring, the Ramblers had put together one of their better halves of basketball this season.

For lack of a better term, any bottom seed playing past the conference past day 1 is playing on house money. While still in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament auto-bid, no matter how out of reach it may seem, these teams are often showcasing an identity that goes beyond their record.

“My message to the team in the locker room was [that] there's so many people that with the adversity that we dealt with this year, it says a lot about the character of the individuals in the locker room with the way that those guys competed,” Coach Valentine said. “Did we make some errors and mistakes tonight? Yeah, we did, [we made mistakes] that were really costly. But I think there's no question about these guys and their futures just in life because of the character and fight that they showed.”

Loyola kept up the fight early in the second half, stretching their lead to as much as 8 before Davidson tied the game at 37 with 10:28 to play. Alexander Richardson got the Ramblers back up 4 with two straight buckets, the second of which was a beautiful jumper as the shot clock expired. However, just ahead and through the under-8 media timeout, Davidson scored 7 unanswered, capped off by a Robert Blums transition three to put the Wildcats up 44-42 with 5:52 to play.

After a back-and-forth stretch, Davidson led 56-53 in the final seconds of regulation. With the ball on a last-chance possession, Loyola’s Kayde Dotson drove in from the right side to the baseline. Unable to find an open look, he sprinted back out to the left wing with the ball, then quickly right to the top of the key. Heaving up a shot, Dotson sunk the game-tying three with 0.4 seconds remaining. 

Despite the comeback, Loyola Chicago was held to just 3 points in overtime as Davidson walked away with a 6-point win. According to Wildcats head coach Matt McKillop, while the extra period of play may send Davidson into the quarterfinals on tired legs, games like this are crucial tests for any championship-caliber team.

“We've had to find ways to win throughout the year, but finding a way to win when your season's on the line, when it's an elimination game, that hopefully goes a long way to hopefully not [having your team] needing to be in that position again,” McKillop said. “But I'm sure that that will at some point, and we've done it, and we can point to it.”

Davidson takes on St. Joe’s in the final quarterfinal game at 7:30 PM.