Atlantic 10 Tournament 2013: St. Louis caps 3-day run with spot in NCAA Tournament

Atlantic 10 fans have their championship game dream matchup. The No. 25 VCU Rams took care of the Massachusetts Minutemen on Saturday, 71-62, to earn a spot in the league’s title game.

VCU came into Saturday’s semifinals with an NCAA Tournament bid basically assured, having won nine of its last 11 games, including one over then-No. 20 Butler.

Saint Louis has now beaten Butler three times this season. The Billikens blew Butler out when they met in St. Louis in January, then stole a four-point victory at Hinkle Fieldhouse in February.

The Billikens now await either VCU or Massachusetts in Sunday afternoon’s championship game. Tip is set for 1 p.m. ET and will air on CBS.

If the first round was any indication, the 2013 Atlantic 10 Tournament will surely be one to remember.

Butler held on to beat the Dayton Flyers, 73-67, after embarking on a 23-9 run midway through the second half to turn a four-point deficit into a 10-point lead with less than five minutes remaining. Rotnei Clarke scored 21 points to lead the Bulldogs, while Andrew Smith chipped in 18 points and six rebounds.

Xavier barely had a chance to win this before the red light went on. Heck, the fact they even made the full-court pass is amazing enough, not to mention that they got a shot attempt out of it.

How does a 63-60 lead with 4.7 seconds left to play turn into a 68-63 loss? NBC Sports has the extended video of the bizarre finish to today’s Atlantic 10 Tournament first round game between Charlotte and Richmond in which the final five seconds wound up looking like this:

The video of the final 4.7 seconds, which includes three technical fouls and eight attempted free-throws, lasts almost 10 minutes. Charlotte won the game and will face top-seeded Saint Louis on Friday.