– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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WASHINGTON — There was one certainty going into the start of the 2025 Atlantic 10 Tournament on Wednesday: a team called the Rams were going to win.
OK, that “astute” assessment isn’t from the most creative parts of this writer’s brain, as the conference’s lowest-seeded team, the Fordham Rams, took on the No. 10 seed Rhode Island Rams, a matchup that produced one of the best finishes of the A-10 season so far, with Matt Zona’s layup with two seconds remaining giving the Rams (New York version) an 80-79 win over the Ocean State’s Rams. That win was just one of three victories for Fordham in conference play, as it arrived in Washington on an eight-game losing streak.
But lightning struck twice this afternoon, as Fordham pulled off the double play after defeating URI 86-67 inside Capital One Arena. The backcourt of Jackie Johnson III and Japhet Medor combined for 55 points as Fordham has now won at least one game in the Atlantic 10 Tournament for a fourth season running.
In the other two contests in the first round, No. 12 Davidson used 25 points from Reed Bailey to defeat last year’s regular-season champions, No. 13 Richmond, 69-65, in the opening game. In the nightcap, No. 14 La Salle pulled off the second seed upset of the day, taking out No. 11 Massachusetts 78-71. Corey McKeithan scored 30 points for the Explorers, the third game of at least 20 points in his last four games.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday’s first round, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Timothy Rice. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 16 pictures in total.
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