Freshman guard Kellan Grady hit the decisive jumper to cap a 17-point effort and Davidson is headed to the NCAA Tournament after posting a 58-57 victory over No. 25 Rhode Island in the championship game of the Atlantic 10 tournament on Sunday at Capital One Arena in Washington.

Grady's short baseline floater marked Davidson's first field goal in 12 minutes, 50 seconds and accounted for the one-point margin with 1:14 left. Senior forward Peyton Aldridge added 13 points and seven rebounds as the third-seeded Wildcats (21-11) earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Senior guard E.C. Matthews had 20 points and eight rebounds for the top-seeded Rams (25-7). Rhode Island is expected to receive an at-large bid as part of the NCAA field.

Davidson shot just 28.6 percent from the field in the second half, and Grady's winner was its lone basket over the final 14-plus minutes. The Wildcats shot 38 percent for the game.

"We're fighting every chance we get," Aldridge said in a postgame interview on CBS. "Every opportunity, the guys gave it their all."

The Rams had a shot for the win but sophomore guard Jeff Dowtin was off-the-mark with a jumper with one second left.

Rhode Island shot 38.5 percent from the field.

The Rams trailed by seven points with under six minutes remaining before they suddenly emerged from their slumber and took advantage of the Wildcats missing 11 consecutive field-goal attempts. Dowtin and senior guard Jarvis Garrett drained 3-pointers and Dowtin connected on a 15-footer to give Rhode Island a 53-52 edge with 4:23 left.

Matthews hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to four before Davidson recovered to take the one-point lead on Grady's basket.

The Wildcats trailed by one at halftime before Grady knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half. A three-point play by Aldridge increased the lead to 41-35 with 17:28 remaining.

Davidson led by eight before Matthews scored on a drive through the lane for Rhode Island's first field goal in a stretch of five minutes, 44 seconds. Matthews drained a jumper nearly 2 1/2 minutes later to pull the Rams within 49-45 with 7:10 left.

Matthews scored nine first-half points on three 3-pointers as Rhode Island led 33-32 at the break.

--Field Level Media