It's been a topsy-turvy week in the Atlantic 10 but one team coming out of it smelling like roses is UMass. The Minutemen followed up a win in Dayton with an 86-79 home win over Charlotte to leave themselves in a tie atop the conference. The only other team, save the Temple-Saint Louis winner today, to win both A-10 games this week is Fordham and the Rams didn't take home the pelts that the Minutemen did. UMass won both games because no one can keep up with their guards. On Wednesday, Dayton sent the Minutemen to the line 36 times and yesterday they made 44 trips against the Niners. If they were a halfway decent foul shooting team, they'd be blowing out every team they played. Instead they hit 29-of-44 and keep games closer than they have any right being. The 49ers shot just 36% for the game but it wasn't settled until the final minutes.
Even though Charlotte plays just as fast as the Minutemen, they were no match in the quickness department. Chris Lowe's drives would find Ricky Harris for threes or Dante Milligan inside and each crippled the 49ers hopes of remaining unbeaten in league play. Harris knocked down four deep balls and Milligan went to the line 14 times to provide big chunks of the offense.
