St. Joe’s pulls away from George Mason in A-10

WASHINGTON » Nick Robinson led a balanced attack with 14 points, Taylor Funk had a double-double and fourth-seeded Saint Joseph’s pulled away for a 68-49 win over fifth-seeded George Mason Friday in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament.

Funk had 12 points and 10 rebounds, James Demery had 12 points off the bench and Shavar Newkirk added 13 points for the Hawks (1615), who face top-seeded and 25th ranked Rhode Island in the semifinals.

Saint Joseph’s worked a 26-25 halftime lead up to 16 points midway through the second half but the Patriots (16-17), who swept the regulation-season series by a total of five points, had a 9-0 run to get within single digits with five minutes to go. In the last four minutes the Hawks were 9 of 10 from the foul line, closing with a 16-6 run.

Jaire Grayer had 12 points and 13 rebounds for George Mason, which went 2 of 25 from distance and shot less than 30 percent overall. WICHITA STATE 89, TEMPLE 81» Landry Shamet scored 24 points, Rashard Kelly had 16 and No. 11 Wichita State (25-6) beat Temple (1714) in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament.

The Shockers also got a strong performance from their reserves, including 13 points from Austin Reaves. Next up is the winner of the Houston-Central Florida game.

Quinto Rose led Temple with 25 points. Shizz Alston and Josh Brown each had 15 points for the Owls, who didn’t have enough depth to keep pace with Wichita State in the final four minutes.

The Shockers were clinging to a 63-61 lead with eight minutes to play when Reaves, fellow reserve Markis McDuffie and Kelly powered a key 13-3 run. The three combined for 11 points in the surge and helped cool off Rose while leading Wichita State to a 76-64 advantage with just over four minutes remaining.

Shaquille Morris made two foul shots to put the Shockers up 55-45 early in the second half, but the Owls rallied behind Rose. The sophomore guard scored 12 of his team’s next 14 points to cut the deficit to 61-59 with 9:10 left. That was as close as Temple could get in the second half.

The Owls closed to 7875 on a three-point play by freshman J.P. Moorman with 2:23 to go, but Wichita State made 10 free throws in the final two minutes and played just enough defense to seal the win.