The Massachusetts men’s basketball team got its final month of regular season Atlantic 10 play kicked off with a win over rival Rhode Island. Here’s how some of the other top teams in the conference fared as March basketball gets underway.

George Mason travelled to Pittsburgh on Saturday, as the Patriots (22-7, 13-3 A-10) looked to continue their A-10 dominance. The hosting Duquesne had other plans, as it fought to improve its seeding in the final month of conference play. The Dukes (13-16, 8-8 A-10) exploded for a 50-point second half, en route to a dominant 85-68 win over the George Mason.

The first half of the contest saw plenty of back-and-forth action from both sides. Jalen Haynes willed the visiting Patriots in the first half, which ended in a three-point contest. Haynes, a senior forward for George Mason, scored a team-high 14 points on a 4-of-5 shooting performance. Patriots’ guard K.D. Johnson also added 11 points.

Duquesne’s second-half offensive explosion did not begin exactly when the buzzer sounded. At the 16:06 mark of the half, the Dukes found themselves down four points and on the heels of a strong Patriots run. Duquesne turned on the offense, outscoring George Mason by 21 in the final 16 minutes of regulation. This was enough for the Dukes to hold on to an all-important conference victory as the season winds down.

Duquesne’s balanced scoring was on full display as it had four players finish in double digits. Leading the Dukes was senior Tre Dinkins, who contributed 20 points on 63 percent shooting. Also finishing in the double figures were Dinkins’ teammates, guard Cameron Crawford with 16 points and five rebounds, guard Maximus Edwards with 14 points and five assists and forward David Dixon with 13 points and five rebounds.

Richmond proved on Saturday that just about any team has a shot on any given day in college basketball.

While the Spiders’ (10-20, 5-12 A-10) results have not been ideal thus far, they battled as hard as any other team might’ve, taking the much higher ranked host Dayton to a double overtime thriller.

The Flyers (20-9, 10-6 A-10) got to play out the contest on their home court and might have invited a better defense than expected. Dayton scored only 24 points in the first half and went into the mid-game break facing a two-point deficit.

Dayton only managed 24 points in the second half. This total was enough to force the game into overtime, but the 48 regulation points the Flyers scored marked a season low for the squad. The Spiders played intense defense throughout, forcing seven steals and blocking three shots. Richmond guard B. Artis White contributed four of the team’s steals.

In the first overtime period, the two teams could yet again not be separated. Spiders’ forward Dusan Neskovic might have thought he scored the game-winning shot with seven seconds remaining, but the Flyers’ Nate Santos got to the paint as time expired. He scored a buzzer-beating layup to send the game to a second overtime period.

The second overtime was all Dayton. It outscored Richmond 15-5, and the upset bid for the Spiders ended there. Dayton’s duo of Nate Santos and Enoch Cheeks both led the game with 18 points, while Neskovic of Richmond led its side with 17.

Saint Joseph’s travelled to the Bronx and took down Fordham, 90-76, on Friday. Saint Louis blew out Loyola Chicago, 98-67, on Saturday. George Washington squandered visiting La Salle 71-60 on Saturday.

Thanks to Duquesne’s weekend upset, the VCU Rams (14-2 A-10) stand alone as the first-ranked team in the conference. Trailing a game behind is the George Mason Patriots. The third spot in the A-10 currently belongs to four teams, as Dayton, Loyola Chicago, Saint Joseph’s and Saint Louis all share a 10-6 record. This puts Duquesne as the seventh ranked team, followed by George Washington (8-9 A-10). Rounding out the top 10 is UMass and St. Bonaventure, both at 7-9 in A-10 play.