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College Basketball|St. Joseph's Rises Above VCU to Take A


Minutes before the Atlantic 10 tournament final at Barclays Center on Sunday, Virginia Commonwealth students began chanting, 'This is our house.' Daryus Quarles, the senior forward for St. Joseph's, shook his head in disagreement.


The chants were understandable. The No. 2 seeded V.C.U. (26-8) had the most vocal fans throughout the tournament. V.C.U. had played seven games at Barclays since last March, prompting its followers to call it 'Siegel Center North' after the team's home court in Richmond.


But it was Quarles who was proved right, as St. Joseph's (24-9) used its height advantage to defeat V.C.U., 65-61, and win its first Atlantic 10 tournament since 1997.


'I just knew how much we've been through as a team,' Quarles said after the game, wearing a A-10 champions hat. 'I just felt like we wouldn't be denied today. I just kind of reacted like this is our game and the outcome showed.'


Langston Galloway connected on five 3-pointers and led the Hawks with 19 points. The tournament's most valuable player, Halil Kanacevic (11 points and 14 rebounds), and Ronald Roberts Jr. (15 points, 11 rebounds) added double-doubles against a Rams lineup that did not start a true center.


'He's very, very versatile,' V.C.U. Coach Shaka Smart said of the 6-foot-8 Kanacevic's rebounding and playmaking, which helped the Hawks overcome the Rams' full-court trap.


Smart and St. Joseph's Coach Phil Martelli said they were proud of the league's performance this week, which included ninth-seeded St. Bonaventure's victory over top-seeded Saint Louis on Friday.


After the Hawks, the No. 4 seed, claimed the conference's automatic bid, Martelli began his postgame news conference by saying that the A-10 was 'one of the top five leagues in America.'


On Saturday, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski had told reporters that the competition in the A-10 did not compare to that of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Tensions between the conferences rose during the week when reports surfaced that the A.C.C. wanted to move its tournament in three years to Barclays Center, where the A-10 has an agreement through 2017.


'I hear people saying there are six teams in there, 'Krzyzewski said of the A-10. 'Come on. I mean, they're good, but put them in our conference and go through the meat grinder that our conference has to go through.'


Asked about Krzyzewski's comments, Martelli sarcastically said, 'I'm not familiar with whom you're referring to. Who's the guy?' He then added, 'If we were playing their schedules, we would have different players because we would have greater recruiting advantages.'


Regardless, Martelli said, the A-10 had plenty to celebrate with the N.C.A.A. tournament ready to begin.


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