OLEAN, N.Y. — It’ll be UMass vs. Saint Joseph’s III in Pittsburgh.
The Minutemen’s Atlantic 10 Tournament fate was solidified moments before Saturday’s tipoff against St. Bonaventure. The Hawks beat Duquesne, 63-60, Saturday, assuring UMass the No. 12 seed regardless of its game with the Bonnies.
The Minutemen (14-17, 4-14 A-10) won both regular season games — 62-57 on Jan. 18 in Amherst and 87-76 Feb. 11 in Philadelphia. They’ll pay in the event’s first game at 6 p.m. Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena, the home of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
The winner will face No. 5 seed St. Bonaventure, Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
“At this point we’re just looking to keep playing, whoever we play,” Malik Hines said. “We’re just trying to win five games in five nights.”
TRIANGLE-AND-TWO — UMass coach Derek Kellogg hasn’t used gadget defenses much in his career, but he threw a triangle-and-two at St. Bonaventure’s Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley, who were both averaging over 20-points per game, and it slowed them down considerably. Adams had 17 points, but 12 came on free throws, and Mobley had a season-low five in Saturday’s 60-56 win.
“They played triangle-and-two, box-and-one, made us a little bit hesitant. But I thought we made enough plays, made our free throws at the end,” SBU coach Mark Schmidt said. “We knew it was going to be a battle, we knew what they were going to do. When they play triangle-and-two, it makes those third, fourth and fifth guys have to make shots. We made some, but we didn’t make enough.
“We saw it against Duquesne, we saw it against UMass, but who knows. I tell the guys, it’s a disrespect thing to the third, fourth and fifth guy, and you gotta make them pay.”
Kellogg said Ty Flowers and Chris Baldwin playing zone on the other three Bonnies helped make it more effective than when he tried something similar in the teams’ earlier meeting.
“They’ve attacked it well. I tried it at our place and it was kind of a disaster. Our guys seemed a little more mentally focused and locked in than earlier in the year,” Kellogg said. “I loved the way Ty Flowers and Chris Baldwin gave us good minutes. I thought they were pretty good in the triangle.”
BALDWIN BREAKING OUT — Baldwin played a career-high 32 minutes and scored 10 points with seven rebounds as he continued to earn Kellogg’s trust.
“He’s much more focused mentally than at any other time during the year. His ferocity on the boards has become an asset for us,” Kellogg said.
Baldwin said his confidence is rising.
“I’m playing better than how I have been, more aggressive, more consistent,” he said. “I’m confident I can go out there and do what I’m supposed to do. Coach has instilled confidence in me to go produce at a high level.
MISCELLANEOUS — UMass finished the regular season 3-10 in road games and 1-8 in Atlantic 10 road games.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage