St. Joe’s-St. Louis LIVE game blog

10:00- The Billikens have been anything but a good luck charm for St. Joe’s, who dropped their fourth straight game against St. Louis, 56-52.

St. Louis held the Hawks to just 20 points in the second half and under 30 percent shooting to seal the win at the Hagan Arena.

“We’re the youngest team in America, so the kids did a great job with that,” said St. Louis head coach Rick Majerus, who’s team has been in Philadelphia since last Thursday, and may not leave town until at least Friday due to the inclement weather. “We did a lot better the second half and really manned up. I thought our defense was good.”

Cody Ellis led the Bills with 13 points, including three three-pointers. Christian Salecich had 11 points, nine of which came in the first half, while Kwamain Mitchell and Willie Reed chipped in nine and seven, respectively. It’s the Billikens’ second straight win in Philadelphia after they took care of business at La Salle over the weekend.

Garrett Williamson led the way for St. Joe’s with 12 points. Todd O’Brien recorded his second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds despite foul trouble throughout, and Idris Hilliard was also in double-figures with 10, all in the first half. Darrin Govens added eight points and four assists on an atrocious 3-13 shooting and 1-5 from three.

The St. Joe’s offense faltered for much of the game, including four missed lay-ups in the first that could have added to their halftime cushion, and couldn’t respond to St. Louis’ best punch.

“It sounds simplistic, but the Achilles heel would be when our defense goes away from us,” said Martelli. “We’re just not as sharp. We were razor sharp in the first half. The plan was the right plan. We just blinked on a lot of possessions in the second half, offensively and defensively.”

The Hawks led from the get-go thanks to a three-pointer by Govens just 29 seconds in and held that lead the entire first half. They stretched the margin as high as 12, thanks in large part to eight straight points from O’Brien, at 30-18 with 3:34 left before the break But the Billikens finished the half on an 8-2 spurt to close the gap to just six.

St. Louis (15-8, 6-3 A-10) amped up the defense from that point forward, holding St. Joe’s to just 22 points and nine field goals in the games final 23:34. A three by Kyle Cassity gave the Billikens their first lead 5:35 into the half, and while the Hawks briefly stayed in contact, the Billikens were able to hold on for the win.

“Too many empty possessions on offense,” Williamson said. “We had bad possessions on offense, and they came down and scored and started chipping away. 56 points, that’s pretty good d, it’s just our offense had too many empty possessions in the second half.”

The Hawks’ (9-15, 3-7 A-10) offense was colder than the snow falling around the Hagan Arena in the second half, able to muster just 8-27 (29.9 percent) from the field, 0-6 from three-point range, and a measly 4-9 from the free throw line. That, combined with nine second-half turnovers, spelled disaster for St. Joe’s.

“It was like we lost our mojo there right away in the second half,” Martelli said. “And they’re all passing and catching. You can’t drop a ball at this level. You can’t hit a guy in the feet when he’s wide open at this level.”

Hilliard went 0-4 from the field after halftime, and foul trouble sent the hot hand of O’Brien to the bench for extended spell in both halves.

“We just got into a rhythm on offense, but it’s just frustrating because I went and got myself in foul trouble and had to sit and watch when we could have been stretching our lead,” said O’Brien. “I did the same thing in the second half. I went out with foul trouble, and it just makes you feel accountable. I really think we should have won that game.”

One solace the Hawks can take is their job defensively, especially on one of the top scorers in the A-10 in Mitchell. They were the first opponent in 17 games to hold him under 10 points, a point that was not lost on Majerus.

“[Garrett] is a great defender,” he said. “To me, he’s the best I’ve seen in the league so far.”

“Defensively, it was a team effort against Mitchell,” said Martelli, whose team was coming off what he felt was their best practice of the year on Monday. “Every time he used the ball screen, we blitzed him and double-teamed him. We fell asleep a couple times on Ellis, who’s a nice player for a young kid, and we did a good job on Willie Reed. You come in and say Mitchell, Reed and Ellis are their go-to’s, and they come out with 29 points. It wasn’t the defensive end. I wouldn’t second-guess anything defensively. But we got in our own way offensively.”

The Hawks finished shooting 37.3 percent from the field (22-59), under 17 percent from deep (2-12), and a woeful 6-11 (54.5 percent) from the charity stripe. They managed to swipe 10 steals, but turned the ball over 14 times themselves against just 10 assists.

They won the rebounding battle comfortably, one of their main bugaboos this year, by a 41-30 margin. It’s only the second time they have done that this year (DePaul), and they are 0-2 in those games.

The Hawks finish their crucial three-game homestand just 1-2. Their punishment is a two-game road trip to Massachusetts and Xavier.

8:54- Cassity astutely finds Jordan, and it takes the Hawks a second to get to him before Crosgile hacks him with 1.6 left. He misses both, but it doesn’t matter as the Billikens escape the Hagan Arena with a 56-52 win. Full recap and reaction in a few minutes…

8:52- But Ellis misses both with 9.7 left, and Williamson drives to the hole to keep things interesting with 3.6 seconds to play and the Hawks down 56-52. Majerus calls his final timeout.

8:51- Williamson misses a three, but Crosgile recovers and earns a trip to the line courtesy of Reed with 11.6 seconds left. He misses both, and Hilliard clamps down on Ellis to seal the win…

8:50- Salecich makes both to put the Bills up five, and Jones gets trapped in the corner and has to fling up a wild runner that hits glass and nothing else, and is siezed by Reed. He makes one of two from the line to push the advantage to six.

8:47- Bentley sends Salecich to the line, he’s their second-leading free throw shooter, and tops among the regulars, at 76.6 percent this year. Majerus takes a timeout to discuss things prior to the shots with 33.4 ticks left to play.

8:44- After trading missed baskets, O’Brien picks up an offensive board and drops it in to cut the lead to three, 53-50, with 34.7 seconds left. He’s got a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds so far. St. Joe’s uses its last timeout.

In case you were wondering, St. Louis is 13th in the A-10 in free throw percentage, averaging a poor 61.3 percent.

On the game reset, both teams are in the bonus. St. Louis has the game’s only two remaining timeouts and the possession arrow.

8:43-Reed misses a jumper from the elbow, and Martelli calls a timeout with 1:42 left.

If you’re looking for late-game heroes, look no further than Mitchell, as he has had the hot hand lately for St. Louis. His two free throws sealed the win against La Salle on Saturday, and he hit the game winning-jumper with 1.4 ticks left against St. Bonaventure. The diminutive guard from Milwaukee has scored in double figures in each of the team’s last 16 games.

8:40- Conklin finds Mitchell wide open from three on a kick-out, but he fires long. Not to be outdone, Govens tosses up an erratic 28-footer that may have been the last straw between him and the handful of boisterous fans sitting behind me. It’s Majerus’ turn to call timeout, his third, with the 1:59 left and the margin still at five.

8:39- Cassity coolly sinks a running 14-footer to extend the lead back to seven, but Williamson answers with an 18-footer of his own. Martelli calls the Hawks third timeout to talk strategy and get Charoy Bentley in the game on defense, with the Hawks down 53-48 and 3:07 left to play,

8:36- Salecich misses a chance at an absolute dagger from three, and fouls Govens, who makes one of two, to cut the lead to seven. The Hawks force a turnover the next time down, and after trying their damndest to turn it over, O’Brien (remember him from the first half?) puts back Crosgile’s missed put back of Hilliard’s missed jumper to cut the lead to five.

8:34- Mitchell takes it to the hoop on a circle cut and lays the ball in. He misses the free-throw after, but he still has his team up eight. Mitchell has nine tonight.

8:32- Reed stands in the way of Williamson to draw his third charge of the game. It’s Williamson’s second and the team’s seventh.

8:30- Carl Jones misses a three on the other end. He makes up for it by hitting a lay-in to respond to one by Ellis, but Ellis comes back with a three to put the Billikens in front by six, their largest margin of the game. It stays that way into the media timeout with 7:12 remaining, St. Louis up 49-43. Ellis has 13 to lead all scorers, 10 of which have come in the second half.

8:28- Baptiste cleans up the boards for a put-back, to cut the lead to two; it’s the Hawks’ first bucket in four minutes.

8:26- Ellis bails the Hawks out with a foul late in the shot clock, but Williamson misses the front end of a one-and-one. He atones at the other end by what I can only describe as poking Mitchell until he travels.

8:23- Mitchell seems unaffected, as he strips Prescott for a fast break lay-in. O’Brien compounds things by picking foul number four by stumbling into Conklin after he turns the ball over, leading to a Justin Jordan’s second three of the game. Martelli calls timeout to talk things over with his team down 43-39 and 10:39 left in the game.

8:20- Keep in mind down the stretch that it’s been a very long trip for the Billikens, who have been in Philadelphia since last Thursday night ahead of the La Salle game. There’s a possibility they might not get out for a while after tonight either with the snow that’s due to come in from the Midwest. They might be thinking more about trying to avoid a second Philly blizzard than trying to avoid the Hawks tonight…

8:18- Reed now has three after undercutting Williamson, who comes up with the steal. Reed is slower to get up though after getting hit in the face in the scrum. It’s the sixth foul on the Billikens already. The Hawks will have the ball, up 39-38, on the other side of the media timeout with 11:47 to play.

8:15- O’Brien is back in the game, and quickly draws Reed’s second foul. But Govens throws an errant pass Hilliard’s way to surrender the advantage.

8:14- Reed has been more active so far this half, taking two charges, registering a block, and now fouling Williamson. He hits both, and the Hawks are back up, 39-38, with 13:30 left.

8:13- A three by Cassity gives the Billiken’s their first lead of the game. They’ve outscored St. Joe’s 12-5 to start the half.

8:12- Brian Conklin hits two free throws, and just like that, we’re tied. But Williamson answers with an 18-footer in transition to regain a two-point edge.

8:09- Just a quick note on the halftime festivities: once again, the randomly selected St. Joe’s student failed to make a halfcourt shot for a semester of free books. But, like several other participants in the last month or so, it was a senior shooting. A senior who doesn’t need books or have a next semester at St. Joe’s. Coincidence? I think not.

8:08- Uh-oh. Ellis is getting hot after a quiet first stanza. He has five points in the half already, including a three the last time down. He can shoot the lights out, and his six threes at GW were the most for a freshman since Larry Hughes 12 years ago. The native of Perth, Australia has played well despite missing the first 14 games of season waiting for clearance from the NCAA. The Hawks are still up, but only by two, 35-33, with 15:51 left.

8:05- Dare I say it, but Williamson has done a good job of quelling Mitchell’s drives to the hoop so far tonight. A lot of the credit has to go to the height advantage, but also to Williamson’s quick feet in keeping good positioning.

8:02- Both teams use their starters to open the second half, and O’Brien picks up his third foul after just 16 seconds on the offensive end. He stays in though to watch Govens sink a jumper and Williamson hit one of two from the line to stretch the advantage to 9, 35-26.

8:00- A little food for thought ahead of the second half tip: The Billikens are 2-7 when trailing at halftime this season. The largest lead they have overcome was a 11-point deficit, the last time out against La Salle. The Hawks’ largest lead has been 12.

For first half coverage, click here…

Hawks struggle, eventually overcome St. Bonaventure

It wasn’t for the faint of heart today at the Hagan Arena, but when it refs’ whistles finally stopped, St. Joe’s emerged with a 78-71 win over St. Bonaventure.

Darrin Govens led the Hawks with 22 points, while Idris Hilliard chipped in 19 and Garrett Williamson had 16. Carl Jones also added nine off the bench.

“I thought we did a really nice job defensively understanding where they were coming from, and trying to attack,” said St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli.

Jonathan Hall led the Bonnies with a game-high 24 points and also added 11 rebounds. Andrew Nicholson chipped in 19 points and nine boards, while Chris Matthews scored 10 points. Both Nicholson and Matthews, along with fellow starter Ogo Adegboye, fouled out.

It was a ragged and choppy game on both sides with mistakes abound. The Bonnies finished with 23 turnovers and just nine assists, while the Hawks coughed it up 17 times with just eight helpers. The teams combined for 55 personal fouls, 33 of which were committed by the Bonnies, leading to four players fouling out. But the Hawks often failed to capitalize, shooting a dreadful 9-19 (47.4 percent) from the line in the first half, and just 29-45 (64.4 percent) for the game.

St. Joe’s-St. Bonaventure game moved to Sunday

With the threat of impending snow, the St. Joe’s men’s basketball game against St. Bonaventure has been moved from Saturday to Sunday.

The game was originally scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday, which would fall right in midst of the winter storm warning for the Philadelphia area. Instead, the game will take place on Super Bowl Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Hagan Arena.

All activities at Saint Joseph’s University have been canceled for Saturday.

- Matthew De George ‘10

St. Joe’s-Richmond live blog

8:51- Geriot attempts to draw a charge on Govens (he has taken 17 already this year; I just had to get that stat in somewhere), and sends him to the line for one of two with 13.7 left. The Hawks don’t foul on the other end, and the Spiders leave the Hagan Arena with a 68-58 win. Post game wrap in just a bit…

8:49- Anderson converts one from the line as Irwin fumbles a pass out of bounds for the symbolism play of the night, and Hilliard sends Smith to the line on the other end with 18.6 left.

8:48- Crosgile makes two of three, but it’s window-dressing at this point as the Hawks still trail 66-57 with under 40 ticks left.

8:46- Govens gives the ball away again in something that was close enough to the rim that we’ll call it an airball instead of a turnover (looked more like a dry heave with a basketball), and Butler hits a jumper after milking the shot clock all the way down. Bulter fouls Crosgile behind the arc on the other end for his fifth foul, but he departs with 15 points (the same total as in ‘08).

8:45- Bulter turns it over, but Govens returns the favor for the 258th time tonight, and Anderson hits a jumper in transition to quiet the Hawks for the time being and send a few of the crimson and gray clad faithful towards the exit. Richmond is up nine with 1:40 to play.

8:43- Williamson earns a trip to the line, but can only convert one of two. Lead’s down to seven.

8:41- A three by Govens on the left wing elicits a cheer from the stands that is half-hearted at best, but another triple by Irwin the next time down gets them out of their seats a little. The survive an offensive rebound on the other end of the court, and have the ball down eight now, 62-54, with 2:30 left in the game.

8:37- A lay-in by Martel has the lead up to 14, and Martelli wants to talk things over with 4:29 left and the score at 62-48.

8:35- Since the game’s pace is doing little to scintillate me, let’s fire up the Bracketology machine (trademark of Joe Lunardi two seats to my right). Richmond is 16-6 right now, and while they have two tough games after this, it wouldn’t be a reach to expect them to finish the regular season somewhere around 22-9 and 11-5 in a strong A-10. They’re currently 38th in RPI, and look like one of anywhere from four to six bids the conference could get this year. Lunardi currently has them as a 10 seed, and there is still a chance for them to take a firm grasp of that “second best A-10 team” honor with the games they have ahead. If they stay as a 10, they’ll be a nice upset pick thanks to this veteran, balanced squad.

8:32- It now looks like Richmond is just getting bored and using whatever defense they want, this time employing a high-ball trap to force Irwin into a wild-three that hits nothing but air. The Spiders turn it over on the ensuing possession, however, and the Hawks will have the ball on the other side of the media timeout, down 56-46 with 7:16 to play.

8:29- Irwin hits a three from the corner, his first points of the game to get the Hawks within eight, but a poor box-out allows Kevin Smith to fly in from the weakside for a putback on a missed three by Gonzalvez. Richmond takes a timeout, their second of the game, with 7:57 left and the score at 56-46.

8:26- Just a side note we forgot to mention earlier, Richmond has never beaten St. Joe’s in the Hawks’ building. Their 0-7 on the road against St. Joe’s, and just 2-13 all-time.

That looks certain to change tonight, especially with Williamson sitting with his fourth foul with 8:50 left in the game and the Hawks down 11, 54-43.

8:24- Richmond is doing an excellent job of throwing a lot of different looks at the Hawks in their halfcourt defense. Head Coach Chris Mooney is switching in man-to-man with zone looks varying in far out they come to contest shooters, and it’s keeping the Hawks off-balance, as the 13 turnovers indicate.

8:22- Crosgile hits a 19-footer, which gets the rather sparsely populated student section to make some noise. But that’s quickly tempered by a runner from Anderson and a poor shot by Crosgile that makes assistant coach Geoff Arnold drop his head in his hands. The St. Joe’s deficit is still nine.

8:19- Or is it? Crosgile hits a three a three from the wing, his first points of the night. Coming into tonight, he was in a stretch where he had at least two made three-pointers in five of the last six games, and shot over 50 percent (13-25) during that time. Tonight, it cuts the lead to nine, 49-40, with 11:08 left to play.

8:17- Todd O’Brien picks up his third foul with 12:15 left, bringing Irwin in for him.

That boring update gives me a chance to spice things up with an interesting fact: Richmond has led each game it has played this year by at least six points. Guess it lends credence to the theory that every team gets its run, but that doesn’t look like the case for the Hawks tonight.

8:15- Hilliard has at least stepped up his game, with an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the gap, but Francis-Cedric Martel answers with a long-distance three to keep the lead at 12. Hilliard now has eight points.

8:13- Nivins may help, but it’s not going to stop the 29-footer Gonzalves just threw in. He’s got 15, and the lead is up to 13.

8:11- By the way, we’ve got a special guest in the stands tonight, sitting just behind the bench he graced for the last four years. Sorry, it’s not Arvydas Lidzius, but Ahmad Nivins. He’s back in the states to rehab a knee injury that has kept him out of action with Basquet Manresa in Spain. Someone in the Hagan Arena has to be seeing if he’s gots any eligibility left, even with just one leg.

8:08- Say what you will about Govens’ hot start to the game, but he now has six turnovers in 19 minutes. SIX. It’s one of the main reasons why St. Joe’s is down 10, 42-32, at the first media timeout in the second half.

8:07- Anderson cuts around and through the Hawks’ defensive efforts to find Garrett under the basket for a flush. He has four assists now, and the lead is up to 12, it’s highest point tonight, at 42-30 with 17:20 left.

8:05- Don’t want to harp on the Spiders’ defense, but it is one of the hallmarks of their success. They don’t have the most explosive offense, but they can get it done on the defensive end. They’re allowing an average of just 60.5 points per game, the third lowest total in the A-10. They also lead the league in steals (8.5) and turnover margin (+3.9), and are second in blocks (5.2) per game. The feather in their cap this year was holding then No. 13 ranked Florida to just 53 points, the lowest total for a Billy Donovan team in his 16 years at the school.

8:01- All the starters are out to open the second half. Hilliard starts things out with a lay-in, his first field goal of the night. He came in having scored in double-figures in each of his last six games. But Darius Garrett answers with a jumper to bring the margin back to nine.

7:58- The Hawks’ pace certainly slowed toward the end of the half thanks to Richmond’s stifling defense. They held St. Joe’s to just 35.7 percent shooting, and turned them over nine times, including five steals (four from Ryan Butler) and six blocks. Butler led them in scoring with 13, including 5-5 from the field and 3-3 from deep, while the Spiders as a team shot 15-28 (53.6 percent) from the field. David Gonzalvez started slow, but ended up with 10 points to go along with five rebounds. Kevin Anderson has been kept in check, at least for him, with just four. Dan Geriot had four after being relegated to the bench to start tonight.

Darrin Govens and Carl Jones each have nine to lead the Hawks, while Todd O’Brien has four. Garrett Williamson has four assists, the only four the Hawks had in the half. They held a rare rebounding margin, with a 17-16 edge.

Things are going to have to change quickly on offense if St. Joe’s want to mount a serious charge to get back into this game…

7:47- The Hawks end the half with another bad possession that ends with a heave from Williamson from about 30 feet. The Spiders end the half on a 19-4 run thanks to a stagnant offense from St. Joe’s that can muster just two buckets in the last 10 minutes. It’s 36-27 Richmond at the half; stats in a bit.

7:45- Jones gets a lay-up in transition, but Gonzalvez answers with a nifty up and under lay-in to put Richmond up nine with 40 ticks left.

7:39- The Richmond defense we talked so much about has stiffened now, and the Hawks have had one shot-clock violation and several other forced shots or turnovers late in the clock; this defense is third in the A-10 for a reason and they’re showing it with tough on-ball pressure and a couple big blocks.

7:33- It took him a little while to get started, but now Gonzalez has eight points to go along with four from Anderson. Richmond now up 28-27.

7:30- Anderson drill a 20-footer over Irwin, and Gonzalez picks up his first points of the game to knot the game up at 23 with just over eight minutes to play.

7:28- Anderson gets his first points of the game with an unmolested drive to the hoop. He cut the lead to four with 10:09 left to play.

7:26- Jones hits two of three free throws, and comes back two trips later with a three in transition to put the Hawks up 23-17; Jones has five.

7:24- Carl Jones gets fouled on a three-point attempt, and will head to the line on the other side of the media timeout with the Hawks up 18-17 and 11:08 left.

7:20- That hot streak might be over as Govens chucks up an airball. Hawks still up four.

7:18- Govens banks in a big three from the right wing. Hawks are up 14-10; Govens has nine.

7:15- We’re a little late to the action thanks to a class running overtime, but here’s what we’ve got so far. The game is surprisingly high-scoring and tied at 10 at the under-16 timeout. Butler has eight points for Richmond, while Govens leads the way with six for the Hawks.

Not a huge shock from Butler, who isn’t the big name at just under eight points per game, but he did have a career-high five threes against St. Joe’s two years ago. Deja vu all over again?

6:30- We’re in the stretch drive of the season now, with just nine games left before the A-10 Tournament. The Spiders are hot as winners of four of their last five games, including a 62-36 pasting of St. Louis on the weekend. They will be especially keen to avoid a slip-up against the Hawks tonight with a visit from Temple and a trip to Richmond in the offing.

Whatever the Spiders’ plan of attack will be, chances are it will go through the all-conference backcourt tandem of Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez. The junior Anderson has justified his preseason All-Atlantic 10 First Team billing, averaging 17.5 points in 17 minutes per game, the third-highest total in each category in the conference. Gonzalvez hasn’t been far behind, averaging 12.9 points per game. His scoring numbers are down from the 16.0 ppg he averaged last year, as are his shooting numbers across the board, but he is on pace for career-high assist and career-low turnover totals.

The Spiders aren’t the deepest team, only rolling out eight players who log more than 10 minutes a game. But their starters all average over seven points per. Justin Harper is the team’s leading rebounder at 5.7 per game to go along with 10.9 points. Center Dan Geriot’s scoring numbers are down from two years ago after sitting out due to injury all of last season, but he has still been a consistent contributor at 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. The fifth starter, Ryan Butler, is also averaging seven and a half points per game

For the Hawks, it’s been a frustrating stretch to emphasize a frustrating year. They have lost two straight after a brief three-game winning spurt, and are just a handful of possessions away from being 6-0. Late-game mistakes cost them against Duquesne last time out, as they did against St. Bonaventure.

The Hawks are coming off another failed opportunity for an elusive road win in conference after their three-point loss at Duquesne. They overcame and eight-point halftime deficit to tie the game late. But Bryant Irwin was called for a traveling violation with 7.6 seconds left with the Hawks down two, and Carl Jones missed a desperation three that would have sent it to overtime in the dying seconds to ensure the Dukes escaped with the win.

Four Hawks were in double-figures against Duquesne, led by a career-high 17 from Justin Crosgile. Darrin Govens also produced an all-too-infrequent strong performance with 17 points of his own, while Idris Hilliard (14) and Todd O’Brien (12) rounded out the big performers for St. Joe’s. Hilliard’s career-high 14 rebounds gave him his first double-double of the season.

That balance, along with more production from Garrett Williamson (just five points and five fouls in 29 minutes against Duquesne) is what the Hawks will need to claim their second major upset of the conference season.

Look for the Hawks to try and push the tempo on Richmond and their strong half-court offense. When the Hawks do find themselves in the half-court, expect a lot of zone looks, something that was very successful against Dayton and that they worked on a lot before Duquesne. St. Joe’s, however, is 0-2 when being held under 60 points, and 1-10 when their opponents score over 70. Both of those may happen tonight, and look for Richmond to escape Philly with something like a 67-59 win.

4:30- Welcome to the Hagan Arena for tonight’s men’s basketball game between the Saint Joseph’s Hawks (8-13, 2-5 A-10) and the Richmond Spiders (16-6, 5-2 A-10).

We’ll have all the action for you live right here starting about a half hour before tip-off. Stay tuned!!

Hawk women drop thriller to Temple, 58-56

The Saint Joseph’s women’s basketball team faced off against Atlantic 10 rival Temple tonight at the Hagan Arena. Despite their best efforts at a late comeback, however, the Hawks found that they once again could not beat Temple, losing on a last-second shot by a score of 58-56.

In the first half, Temple (16-6, 5-2 A-10) opened up an early lead. What didn’t help the Hawks (11-11, 4-3 A-10) out was that they could not seem to handle the basketball tonight, missing passes and experiencing problems simply dribbling the ball. What also hurt the Hawks was that reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Brittany Ford, ’10, tweaked something in her leg and was sidelined for most of the first half. When combined with the fact that the Hawks were out-rebounded 19-12, 8-1 in offensive rebounds, the Hawks found themselves going into halftime trailing 32-25.

Hot Reads: February 1, 2010

After a brief, one-week hiatus thanks to three St. Joe’s men’s basketball games in five days, and the subsequent wrist exhaustion, we’re back to give you the best articles in brief.

After a distinctly underwhelming Pro Bowl (hey, at least Mario Williams managed two sacks in that defensive masquerade) that did somehow squeak out strong ratings, it’s Super Bowl week! Bring on the lame coverage over-dissecting each angle, and created several erroneous ones of their own, until you’re so nauseated you don’t even care who wins!!

In the way of interesting coverage, this year’s BCS Championship Game has opened up the now obligatory questioning of back-up quarterbacks heading into each big game from here to kingdom come (thank you Marcell Dareus). I’m sure Colt McCoy is thrilled that his lasting legacy to this point is as the moniker for quarterbacks injured in big games. Of course, no coverage of Super Bowl XLIV would be complete without delving into the Manning family lineage.

Liveblog: St. Joe’s Women’s Basketball vs. GW

3:57: With final box score in hand, it’s clear to see who today’s star was. Brittany Ford absolutely dominated the second half, finishing with 23 points overall, going 10-13 from the floor and 3-3 from the line. Both Logue and Djouara had better games than against La Salle, and Ashley Prim even began to heat up in the second half. With momentum in their favor, the Hawks will now face Temple on Tuesday night to try and extend their winning streak to 3. On a side note, this was head coach Cindy Griffin’s 200th win as head coach of the Hawks.  From the Hagan Arena on a snowy, windy afternoon, this is Tom Hagan signing off with the Hawks beating George Washington by 63-47.

3:51: And that’ll do it for the Hawks. St. Joe’s gets a healthy 16 point win over GW, 63-47. Be back with a wrapup in a little bit.

3:49: Prim forces a turnover with Baker now in the game. Wilson picks up the rebound on a Prim miss, but Gillespie picks up the Allums miss. Ford again adds to her point total today, and the Hawks are now up 63-47.

3:47: Prim again hits two free-throws on a foul, and on the other end Logue draws her third foul of the game. Shelton hits both FTs to cut the lead to 14.

3:45: Prim knocks down both free throws to give St. Joe’s a 57-42 lead. Myers knocks down a three to lower the lead to 12. Ford continues her dominant pace with another layup and it looks as little can stop the Hawks from winning today. Now, I’m no coroner, but I think it’s almost time to pronounce this game over.

Turning a corner, but to where?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. They don’t mention what happens on instance number seven.

That’s the position many St. Joe’s fans are in now (thought the seven is a very low estimate) after falling into the oh so familiar trap of buying into the heightened expectations that a few straight wins can create.

The loss from UMass was especially tough to swallow, as will be most from here on out, because the Dayton game gave everyone a tantalizing view of what the Hawks are capable of. Yes, last night’s effort was tempered by the fatigue of three games in five days, something that is largely out of the team’s control. But the loss still stings, and you can’t help but think that if the circumstances were different, the result might have been as well.

After the Penn game, I went though a checklist of things that needed to happen for the St. Joe’s streak to continue. Here’s the report card from UMass:

Ford, Prim spur Hawks to victory at La Salle

The St. Joe’s women’s basketball team traveled to La Salle last night where they looked to get back to .500 against a struggling Explorer team. After a second half comeback and an outstanding performance by Brittany Ford, ’10, the Hawks (10-10, 3-2 A-10) managed to leave La Salle with the victory by a score of 45-39.

In the first half of play, the Hawks could not find any semblance of an offensive rhythm. After 20 minutes, the Hawks had scored only 11 points, seven of which were scored by Ford. What saved the Hawks from being left with an insurmountable deficit was that the Explorers (5-16, 0-6 A-10)weren’t able to find rhythm themselves, with the exception of a late 11-1 run to end the half that gave La Salle a 19-11 lead.

Down eight points to the Atlantic 10 basement dweller, the Hawks would need a serious turnaround to get the victory. With a combination of Ford and key scores by Mariame Djouara, ’10, the Hawks quickly gained the lead in the second period. With less than nine minutes left in the game, the Hawks pulled a complete 180, leading the Explorers by 10. In the final minutes of the game, the Hawks were able to prevent another Explorer run and win by a final score of 45-39. Ford finished with a team-high 15 points and two blocks while Ashley Prim, ’13, finished with 8 points and seven rebounds. Up next for the Hawks will be an afternoon matchup against George Washington at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Hagan Arena.

-Tom Hagan ‘11

Minutemen dump tired Hawks, end three-game winning streak

A third game in just five days finally caught up with St. Joe’s, as they had their three-game winning streak stopped at the hand of UMass, 87-80.

Ricky Harris led all scorers with 23 points, and the Minutemen pulled away thanks to four second-half threes by Freddie Riley.

“[It’s] very disappointing,” St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli. “We disserve better because we had been playing better. We looked tired, and we thought tired. We didn’t fight through when we had chances in both halves. We worked our tails to get back and get the lead in the second half and we step off a known three-point shooter [Riley] for them to tie it.”

Garrett Williamson, ’10, led the way with an impressive line, highlighted by a double-double of 16 points and 10 assists. He also swiped six steals, three bocks, three rebounds, and no turnovers.

“We got a team like that and we were on the ropes with them, but we never got that knockout punch.” Williamson said. “We never really had that surge of stops and good possessions on offense that we’ve had these last few games.”