Favorites Dominate Opening Round In Richmond; Only JMU Manages Upset

On Friday. the CAA Tournament began in Richmond with the fifth through 12th seeds battling for places in Saturday's quarterfinals. Three of the four higher seeds were successful.

The afternoon session featured two mismatches decided by 17 points each.

No. 8 Towson blasted ninth-seeded UNC Wilmington, 91-74, thanks to 20 points from RaShawn Polk and 18 from Troy Franklin. The Tigers will take on the top seed Old Dominion Saturday at 12 p.m. ET.

Fifth-seeded VCU, the defending champion, grabbed a relatively easy win over 12th seed Delaware, 66-49. Larry Sanders scored 15 for the Rams, while grabbing 13 boards. VCU, playing not far from their campus, faces the four seed, George Mason, Saturday at around 2:30 p.m. ET.

The evening session was a bit more exciting.

Seventh-seeded Hofstra survived a scare from 10th-seeded Georgia State, prevailing 68-67. Charles Jenkins, the Pride's star, scored 24, and they needed every single one of those points to advance to Saturday's quarterfinal against the two seed Northeastern (6 p.m. ET). Keep in mind that the Pride just defeated the Huskies at Matthews Arena on February 23.

The nightcap saw the only upset of the round, as 11th-seeded James Madison knocked off Drexel, the six seed, 77-65. The Dukes will face third-seeded William & Mary in tomorrow's final game (8:30 p.m. ET).

I will be on site for the remainder of the tournament, so expect postgame updates all the way through the final on Monday night. You can also follow along via my Twitter account @BracketDobber.