Davidson Men’s Basketball Wraps Up Season After A-10 Tournament

BEN WOLF ‘26 (HE/HIM) SPORTS WRITER

Davidson men’s basketball arrived at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the annual Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament, the winner of which receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The ’Cats entered the tournament as the 8th-seeded squad out of the 15 members of the conference after concluding the regular season with a 8-10 record in conference play (16-16 overall).

They tipped off bright and early at 11:30 on the morning of Wednesday, Mar. 8 against St. Bonaventure. Davidson defeated the 9thseeded Bonnies–who had also finished 8-10 within the A10–at Belk Arena just a few weeks prior, with guard Foster Loyer ’23 and forward Sam Mennenga ’24 combining for 51 of the 74 ’Cats points in a double-digit victory. In that initial matchup, Davidson kept star Bonnies guard Daryl Banks III in check, holding him to 12 points on 15 shot attempts.

The ’Cats maintained the same blueprint in the rematch. Sure enough, Banks, who was accustomed to playing on the big stage after a surprise March Madness run with Saint Peter’s the year prior, missed all six of his three-point attempts and finished with nine points without spending even a minute on the bench. Loyer and Mennenga chipped in offensively (14 and 12 points, respectively), but this time a balanced scoring attack led by Desmond

Watson ’25 (17 points) helped Davidson grind out a 65-54 victory.

With little time to celebrate, first-year Head Coach Matt McKillop and his staff turned their attention to a battle with #1-seeded VCU, who won the regular-season conference title with a resounding 15-3 record against A10 competition. The Rams had captured wins in both prior meetings with Davidson–the first an 89-72 win in Richmond behind a 15-24 (62.5%) three-point shooting clinic and the second a 61-59 nail-biter sealed after guard Adrian “Ace” Baldwin Jr. hit a go-ahead jumper with 14 seconds left and the ’Cats missed a potential tying free throw.

Based on the latter performance, the ’Cats were optimistic about their odds against VCU on a neutral court. The Rams, though, rarely trailed en route to a 71-53 win. Even on a socalled “off day” for Baldwin, the A10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, he paced VCU with 11 points, six assists, and his usual tenacity on his own end of the floor.

Davidson starters and VCU starters alike had quiet performances scoring-wise, but the Rams’ bench depth shined, outscoring Davidson’s reserves by a 30-12 margin. They would go on to win the tournament and enter March Madness as a 12-seed, setting up a firstround matchup with 5th-seeded Saint Mary’s.

“It’s hard to say exactly where we fell short in the A10 tournament, but I think it just comes down to making a few extra winning plays in those games and it would be a completely