St. Joseph’s ensured the top four seeds will play in the Atlantic 10 men’s basketball semifinals with a 70-58 victory over No. 6 Davidson in a quarterfinal matchup Friday night at PPG Paints Arena.
The No. 3-seeded Hawks (22-10) will play No. 2 VCU (25-7) at 3:30 p.m. Friday. No. 1 Saint Louis (28-4) will take on No. 4 Dayton (22-10) at 1 p.m.
Both games will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
“We have so much respect for Davidson and how hard they played,” said St. Joseph’s coach Steve Donahue, the A-10 coach of the year.
“We played two really hard games against them. We each beat each other on our home court, and we knew this was going to be a battle. I think that’s a good feeling to have knowing that for the last eight days or whatever, we probably prepared for them.”
Guard Jaiden Glover-Toscano had 19 points, forward Justice Ajogbor added 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and guard Derek Simpson had 16 points for the Hawks. Simpson, a first-team All-Atlantic 10 selection, also had five rebounds and five assists.
“I think with everything that went on this season, we just always trusted ourselves and trusted the staff,” Ajogbor said. “So I think we all kind of have to believe that we had what it took in that locker room. .. And to kind of vindicate ourselves is an awesome feeling.
“But the goal isn’t just to get to the semifinals again. So we’re kind of looking forward to tomorrow, but we know what we’ve got to do to get where we want to get to.”
St. Joseph’s led 33-29 at halftime. Davidson (20-13) cut the deficit to 37-36 four minutes into the second half, but St. Joseph’s used a 32-12 run to build a 21-point lead at 69-48 with 3:14 left.
Guard Josh Scovens had 15 points and nine rebounds, and guard Roberts Blums scored 13 for Davidson.
“Obviously, very disappointed with the way we performed today and the way I coached this team today,” Davidson coach Matt McKillop said. “We came in with incredible belief. Even not playing well, we had a four-point deficit at halftime. We had a chance to take the lead there early in the second half, and then the wheels kind of fell off for a bit.
“But I’m so proud of this group and what we were able to accomplish these last few weeks and these last few months.”
St. Joseph’s advanced to the semifinals for the third straight season and 20th time overall. It lost in the semifinal round the past two years.
The Hawks are 2-2 against VCU in the A-10 tournament, including a loss in the 2024 semifinals.
VCU won the teams’ regular-season meeting 79-72 on Jan. 27.
“I think they’re really talented,” Donahue said. “They have a really good plan every time. I think they play hard. They have a lot of weapons. There’s depth, there’s skill.
“We really have to play well. It’s not like we can come in here and hope we play an average game. We’re going to have to play really well, and we’re going to have to play well enough on defense that they don’t play as well. I think, obviously, that’s our strength is to make the other team we’re playing not play well because that’s the way we stay in games, and that’s how we finish games.”
This is the third time since 2006 that the top four seeds advanced to the A-10 semifinals (2018, ‘21, ‘23).