St. Joseph's 68, La Salle 48

St. Joseph's (23-5) reached the semifinals for the 11th time in 20 seasons by playing stingy defense and making shots down the stretch.

Carroll, one of the nation's most accurate 3-point shooters, made three of them during a 15-3 spurt that put the Hawks in control early in the second half.

La Salle (12-17) shot only 33 percent from the field as St. Joseph's held an opponent under 50 points for the eighth time this season. The Hawks, who are the conference's top defense, give up an average of only 59 points per game.

Jameer Nelson led the Hawks with 15 points, and Carroll added 14. Gary Neal and Jermaine Thomas had 13 apiece for La Salle.

West returned after missing two games with a stress fracture in his lower right leg and scored nine points, all in the first half. The sophomore guard crouched under the basket in severe pain after he was fouled on a drive to the basket in the second half, and watched the ending from the bench.

West, who forms one of the country's top guard tandems with Nelson, has missed three games overall with the injury. He moved tentatively when he got into the game at 15:23 of the first half, then reminded the Hawks of what they've been missing.

West, who averages 18.5 points, was badly off-target on his first shot, and walked gingerly to the bench at the next timeout. A few minutes later, he made two close-up shots in a row -- no small feat in a first half of ugly shooting.

With three minutes left before halftime, both teams were shooting under 30 percent from the field.

La Salle had its only good stretch at the outset, a seven-point run on its way to a 12-5 lead. Thomas hit a pair of 3-pointers -- the Explorers' only 3s of the half -- during the spurt.

Finding confidence in his shot, West hit a 3-pointer and scored off a drive to put the Hawks ahead. Dwayne Lee's driving scoop shot just before the buzzer made it 28-23 at halftime.

West was on the bench as La Salle tied it at 28 early in the second half on David Bell's two free throws. That's when Carroll broke the game open from long range.

Carroll, who makes 48.6 percent of his 3-point attempts, hit one from the left wing to start a 15-3 spurt. Carroll also made a pull-up jumper and consecutive 3s that pushed the lead to 43-31.

Dayton had 40 points in the paint and 18 second-chance points. The Flyers continually got the ball into their big men, who were able to use their height advantage to knock Rhode Island out of the conference tournament for the third straight year.

Dayton (22-5) advances to the semifinals Friday to play St. Joseph's, which defeated La Salle 68-48 in an earlier game.

In the first half, the Rams (18-11) went for more than 10 minutes without scoring a field goal, shooting just 21 percent. Dayton went on a 16-0 run to take an 25-10 lead with 8:30 left, and led 39-16 at halftime.

It was the Flyers' biggest halftime lead of the season and the fewest points scored against them in the first half.

Rhode Island played a zone defense for much of the game to try and contain Dayton's big men and force the Flyers to shoot from the perimeter. But Dayton shot well from outside, and four Flyers finished in double figures.

Rhode Island staged a comeback in the second half, hitting 11 of their first 12 shots, including all six of their 3-point attempts. The Rams had cut Dayton's lead to nine with 12:26 left before missing their next seven shots.

Brooks Hall and D.J. Stelly hit 3-pointers to put Dayton back in control.

Sophomore guard Dustin Hellenga had 18 points for Rhode Island, including four 3-pointers.

Dayton's victory snapped Rhode Island's three-game winning streak. Dayton is 15-1 on their home court this season, losing only to Xavier.

Dayton had not played since March 1 because St. Bonaventure forfeited its last two games, including Saturday's game against Dayton. The Bonnies were stripped of six wins and barred from the tournament for using center Jamil Terrell, who failed to meet NCAA junior college transfer guidelines.

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Brian Polk scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half, making long-range shots over Richmond's defense as Temple pulled away to a 66-52 victory Thursday in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Temple (14-14) will play No. 10 Xavier in the semifinals on Friday night. The Owls finished their regular season with a 31-point loss to Xavier on Saturday that snapped their six-game winning streak.

Temple has won a record six Atlantic 10 tournaments, the last one in 2001.

Richmond (15-13) was the last team to beat Xavier. The Spiders rallied for a 67-59 win on Jan. 7 in Cincinnati, and the Musketeers went on to set a school record by winning their 16 games since then.

Polk broke open a game that was tied 24-all at halftime -- about what was expected from two teams that dig in on defense. Polk hit consecutive 3-pointers as Temple built the lead to 41-32 midway through the second half, then added two more 3s and a three-point play as the Owls went up by 16 points.

Jamaal Scott kept Richmond close by scoring the Spiders' first eight points in the second half, but they couldn't take advantage of open 3-point shots against Temple's zone.

Richmond shot only 38 percent from the field and was 5-of-20 on 3-point tries. Scott led the Spiders with 19 points.

When the teams met in Richmond on Jan. 11, the Spiders stopped Temple cold in a 61-42 victory. Temple managed only 12 points in the first half and finished with its lowest point total in seven years.

The Spiders got a first-round bye in the tournament because St. Bonaventure was stripped of six wins and barred from postseason play for using an ineligible player. The Bonnies then decided to forfeit their last two games.