March 5, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - Saint Joseph's has earned the fifth seed in the 2006 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship, and will play 12th-seeded Dayton in the first round on Wednesday, March 8. Game time is 2 p.m. at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, OH.

The Hawks, aside from regular season champion George Washington, are one of the hottest teams in the conference, having won their last five regular-season games. SJU owns a 15-12 record and went 9-7 in the conference.

If the Hawks win on Wednesday, they would meet fourth-seeded Saint Louis in Thursday's quarterfinals at 2 p.m.

George Washington, Charlotte, La Salle, and Saint Louis each earned opening round byes to the Championship.

The opening round of the 30th annual Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship commences on Wednesday with four games. Eighth-seeded Rhode Island (14-13 / 8-8) meets ninth-seeded Temple (15-13 / 8-8) at noon, followed by the Saint Joseph's-Dayton game. The second opening round session begins at 6:30pm with Massachusetts (13-14 / 8-8), seeded seventh, taking on 10th-seeded Xavier (17-10 / 8-8). The final opening round game will pit sixth-seeded Fordham (14-15 / 9-7) and Richmond (13-16 / 6-10), seeded 11th.

The Championship continues with quarterfinal round play on Thursday, March 9. George Washington opens quarterfinal round action at 12:00pm by facing the winner of the Rhode Island-Temple game. Then it's Saint Louis squaring off with either Saint Joseph's or Dayton at 2:00 pm. The evening session of the quarterfinal round begins at 6:30 pm and sees Charlotte taking on the Massachusetts-Xavier winner, while La Salle faces the Fordham-Richmond victor in the nightcap.

Semifinal round play takes place on Friday, March 10, beginning at 6:30 pm. The final round of the Atlantic 10 Championship will be played on Saturday, March 11. Tip-off is 6:00 pm.