PITTSBURGH — My dad Jeff Jablonski, a 1971 Alter graduate, accompanied me to Pittsburgh for the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament as he did the last time it was held here in 2017 when Dayton lost its first game to Davidson.

Dad might be the only one at PPG Paints Arena with a paper ticket. It’s hard to get a digital ticket on a flip phone. Nine years ago, paper tickets were still a thing.

I texted my dad’s friend a photo of him with the ticket. He wrote back, “Hope as a doctor he has progressed beyond blood letting and lobotomies!”

I responded, “He may need both if Flyers lose their first game again.”

I sat with my dad in the stands for much of the game between No. 5 seed George Mason and No. 13 seed St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies, perhaps fueled by the impending departure of 19th-year coach Mark Schmidt, rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to win 63-57, earning a date with the No. 4 seed Dayton Flyers at 2 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals.

Schmidt’s team has won two games in two days since he announced Saturday he will retire after the season. After the victory Thursday, he praised the St. Bonaventure fans who made the three-hour drive to support the team.

“For 19 years, people have been on my side,” Schmidt said. “They’ve been very supportive to my wife, myself, my family. And there’s nothing like it. So that will be missed. But in the end, when you’re 63 years old ... I said yesterday, ‘I don’t want to be in a wheelchair getting pushed around Cape Cod.’”

St. Bonaventure is the first No. 13 seed to reach the A-10 quarterfinals. Dayton will either benefit from playing a team trying to win its third game in three days or add another sad chapter to its tortured A-10 tournament history.

The last time Dayton played St. Bonaventure in the A-10 tournament, it was my second tournament on the beat in 2015. What I remember most about that game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., is a Bonnies fan throwing a beer at the Flyers as I left the court. This is what I wrote 11 years ago.

Describing it as madness understates the matter. Basketball in March — especially at the Atlantic 10 tournament, where the first three games Friday were decided in the final minute — is mad, crazy, loony and every other adjective in the thesaurus.

The Dayton Flyers know that from experience but learned it again in the A-10 quarterfinals. Somehow they survived their St. Bonaventure adventure, winning 75-71 at the Barclays Center.

Dayton advanced. It persevered. The Flyers even dodged a beer bottle as they left the court. A frustrated St. Bonaventure fan, without any respect for good beer, tossed a bottle at the Flyers. It barely missed — just like the Bonnies on this night.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

2:42 p.m.

PITTSBURGH — The Atlantic 10 Conference championship trophy sits on a black table at PPG Paints Arena in front of a replica of one of Pittsburgh’s famous yellow bridges.

A sign next to the table reads, “Trophy Station.”

Fans can take selfies with the trophy this week at the A-10 tournament. Of course, fans of the Dayton Flyers might not want to get too close to a trophy their team hasn’t won in 23 years. It brings back too many bad memories.

I remember many of those moments from 12 trips to the A-10 tournament.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

• The Langston Galloway push-off in a semifinal loss to Saint Joseph’s in 2014.

• The A-10 championship game loss to Virginia Commonwealth in 2016.

• Another semifinal loss to Saint Joseph’s in 2016.

• The Davidson upset in the quarterfinals here in Pittsburgh in 2017.

• Forgettable early exits in 2018 and 2019 in coach Anthony Grant’s first two seasons.

• The canceled tournament of 2020 when I arrived in time at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the press conference announcing the news.

• The limited-attendance pandemic tournament in Richmond, Va., in 2021.

• The Malachi Smith ankle injury in a semifinal loss to Richmond in 2022.

• The second A-10 championship game loss to VCU in 2023.

• The quick quarterfinal exits in 2024 and 2025.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

Now the 2026 tournament is here. I arrived at PPG Paints Arena in time Thursday to watch No. 5 seed George Mason play No. 13 seed St. Bonaventure in the second game of the second round. Dayton will play the winner of this game in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Friday.

In the first game Thursday, No. 9 seed George Washington beat No. 8 Fordham 66-62. George Washington led by as many as 24 points before Fordham rallied to cut the deficit to two points in the final two minutes.

Fordham has now failed to win the tournament in 31 A-10 seasons. Dayton entered the league in the same season, 1995-96, and has one championship.

George Washington (18-14) will play No. 1 seed Saint Louis (27-4) at 11:30 a.m. Friday. George Washington lost 79-76 at Saint Louis on Jan. 27 when Billikens star Robbie Avila, the A-10 Player of the Year, made a 3-pointer in the final seconds.

“Every game is different,” George Washington coach Chris Caputo said after the game. Thursday. “Because we played well for most of the game at Saint Louis does not mean we will play well tomorrow. We’ve got to take what we learned in the first game, evaluate some things they’ve done different since that game. It’s been a while now.”

George Washington will seek its first semifinal appearance since 2014.