Hawks qualify for Atlantic 10 Tournament following win

In what was the de facto opening round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, the Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team held on in a nail-biter in Charlotte.  The Hawks (9-21, 4-12 A-10), who entered the game with a one-game lead on Charlotte (10-20, 2-14 A-10) in the conference standings, won by a count of 71-70 after relinquishing a nine-point, second-half lead.

Langston Galloway,  ’14, tied his career high with 27 points on 8-11 shooting (6-7 from three-point range).  Galloway sunk one of two free throws with four seconds left in the game to give the Hawks the advantage.  It became the winning margin once a three-pointer from 49er Derrio Green, who had hit a three with 12 seconds left to tie the game, went awry.

With the win, the Hawks clinched the 12th and final spot in next week’s Atlantic 10 Tournament. After opening the conference season with eight straight losses (nine straight when including a loss to Big-Five Rival Penn), St. Joe’s managed to finish 4-4 in its last eight games to prolong its season.  Charlotte, the only conference team to knock off A-10 champ Xavier this year, lost eight games in a row to finish the season.

O’Brien back with team

Saint Joseph’s junior center Todd O’Brien was cleared to return to the men’s basketball team today following a nine-day leave of absence, according the the Athletic Communications department at St. Joe’s.  O’Brien had been ruled out of both the games against Xavier, Temple, and UMass over the past week due to a failure to comply with the University’s community standards.  His return to the team marks the end of the school’s judicial process.

A press release stated that both O’Brien and guard Patrick Swilling were to be inactive shortly before their game against Xavier on Feb. 16.  On Feb. 20, the day of the game against Temple, another press release was issued that stated Swilling was no longer enrolled in the University and that O’Brien would remain away from the team until the judicial process had been completed.

O’Brien has appeared in 19 games this season.  He averages seven minutes per game, 1.1 points per game, and 1.3 rebounds per game.

The Hawks (7-20, 2-11 A-10) return to action Saturday against St. Bonaventure (15-11, 7-6).  The game tips off at 4 p.m. at Hagan Arena.

-James Hill

St. Joe’s vs. Xavier LIVE GAME BLOG

St. Joe’s enters tonight’s game riding a winning streak.  While it is only two games long, that phrase can finally be uttered for the first time in the year 2011.  The Hawks have gotten great backcourt play in the last two games–against UMass and at Fordham– in order to give them their first two Atlantic 10 wins.

The story of late has been the play of freshman Langston Galloway.  The guard has scored 25 points in each of the last two games and has been named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week in each of the last two weeks.  He led the Hawks in leading-scorer Carl Jones’ absence in a 67-64 win over UMass that snapped the Hawks’ nine-game losing streak.

He led three Hawk guards in double figures with another 25-point performance on Sunday in St. Joe’s comeback win over Fordham.  Carl Jones (15 points) and Charoy Bentley (14 points) also reached double figures for the Hawks.

Tonight’s opponent is the 18-6 Xavier Musketeers.  Xavier is led in scoring by their two guards, Tu Holloway (20.7 points per game) and Mark Lyons (13.5 points per game).  They are joined in double figures by the frontcourt tandem of Kenny Frease (11.8 ppg, 8.9 rpg) and Jamel McLean (11.4 ppg, 8.9 rpg).

St. Joe’s vs UMass LIVE GAME BLOG

We’re back at Hagan Arena after a 17-day hiatus and some things still have not changed: namely the Hawks are still winless in league play and still have not won in 2011.  The Hawks (5-17, 0-8 A-10) have not had much go their way lately as their losing streak is now at nine.

The problem on offense remains the same for the Hawks: there is no one who consistently scores once one’s eyes wander past Carl Jones’ name in the box score. Jones scored 21 points in Wednesday’s loss to Richmond to push his team-high scoring average to an even 18 points per game.  After that, however, the scoring drops off significantly.  Langston Galloway averages 10.8 points per game but seems to have hit the freshman fatigue wall since the year turned over.

The Hawks desperately need to solve that problem tonight. Jones has been ruled out of tonight’s game with a sprained ankle sustained in practice.  Jones prepared with the hopes of playing, but has been ruled out 45 minutes before tip.  Senior guard Charoy Bentley will start in his place.  Bentley averages 7.3 minutes per game and 1.4 points per game—a far cry from Jones’ totals.

St. Joe’s vs. Temple LIVE GAME BLOG

10:51… The Worldwide Leader in Sports is here, bagels and orange juice replaced pizza and soda as the spread in the media room, and a number of bleery-eyed college students have descended upon the Palestra for this morning’s Big Five and Atlantic 10 tilt between the Temple Owls (14-5, 4-2 A-10) and the Saint Joseph’s Hawks (5-15, 0-6 A-10).

Today’s match-up features two teams headed in opposite directions.  Temple is enjoying its usual success in the Atlantic 10.  The Owls always seem to find themselves in the thick of the Atlantic 10 race, usually either winning the regular season or tournament championship over the past few years.  Meanwhile, the Hawks, losers of seven straight, keep finding new ways to lose as the Phil Martelli remains stuck on 294 wins.

Saint Joseph’s vs. UPenn LIVE BLOG

The Hawks step out of conference tonight as they descend upon the Palestra to tangle with the Penn Quakers.  Saint Joseph’s, in the midst of a five-game spiral, hope to find their way against the 5-8 Ivy League squad.

If the Hawks are to win tonight, they may have to do it without freshman big man CJ Aiken.  Aiken, who has started all 18 games thus far, averages 8.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and a conference-leading 3.8 blocks per game.  His last time out, Aiken electrified the Hagan arena crowd, throwing down three fast break dunks and sinking two corner threes to help give the Hawks a 37-35 halftime lead against Rhode Island.  Aside from his defense, he disappeared in the second half, scoring his 12 points in the game in the first half.  He did finish with seven blocks.  Aiken warmed up with the team, but is out of the starting line-up tonight and is questionable to play at all.  Fellow freshman Ronald Roberts will start in his place.

Saint Joseph’s vs. Rhode Island LIVE BLOG

The students are back on campus and, after a two-game road swing, so are the Hawks.  St. Joe’s will need the energy from the home crowd to snap it’s four-game losing streak tonight against the Rhode Island Runnin’ Rams.  Rhody is coming off a pair of wins against Richmond and St. Bonaventure and stand at 11-6 overall, 2-1 in the conference.

The Hawks dropped the pair of road contests, at Dayton and Saint Louis, and are now looking for some home-cooking to right the ship and get them on track in the Atlantic 10 season.  St. Joe’s is winless in four conference games, dropping games to Duquesne and George Washington. The Hawks find themselves in the basement, 3.5 games behind leaders Duquesne, Xavier, and George Washington.  This cold streak leaves Head Coach Phil Martelli six games shy of his 300th career victory.

St. Joe’s-Villanova LIVE BLOG

8:00: It’s a Friday night, no class in the morning…

While that may be true, J Smith, this Friday also happens to be another occurrence of the Holy War, the annual meeting of St. Joe’s and Villanova.

This year, the Hawks (3-3) come stumbling into this meeting after a 12-point loss to Drexel, and face by far the toughest opponent of the season to this point in Villanova.

The Wildcats (5-1) suffered their first loss of the season last week against a tough Tennessee squad and will be looking to rebound tonight against their main Big 5 rival. Jay Wright’s team is led by Corey Fisher, who has done a solid job to this point replacing the production and leadership of graduated senior Scottie Reynolds.

LIVE BLOG: Women’s and Men’s Doubleheader

Greeting folks!

It’s been awhile, but the blog is back!

Tonight features two games: the St. Joe’s women’s basketball team vs. the Providence Lady Friars and the St. Joe’s men’s basketball team against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

In the first round, the (women) Hawks will be up against the Providence Lady Friars. The Friars went 19-15 last season, playing in a conference with some of giants of the game on the UConn women’s team. Statistically, the Lady Friars come into this game as a perfect match for the Hawks, with most stats differing by tenths of a point. The Friars lead the overall series 3-1, including a victory last season by the score of 88-57. Something tells me this game may be a bit closer, as this is the season opener for the Hawks. Another fun fact, the last time the two basketball teams played a doubleheader they took both games, albeit against Fordham at the beginning of this calendar year.

A Message to Umpires: Stop the Warnings

[picapp align=”none” wrap=”false” link=”term=baseball+umpire&iid=9472929″ src=”http://view2.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9472929/match-feature-soccer-brain/match-feature-soccer-brain.jpg?size=500&imageId=9472929″ width=”500″ height=”331″ /]

Umpires this year have taken warnings too far.

Last week when Yankee Left-fielder Brett Gardner went hard into second base injuring Carlos Guillen, I was expecting some retaliation from Detroit. Two games later Gardner was hit leading off the game, rising suspicions that it was intentional. Honestly if it was on purpose then hats off to Detroit pitcher Jeremy Bonderman. He was protecting his teammate. The only thing that peeved me about it was he hit Brett in the leg. Hit the man in the back. Never aim to low or too high. That is what baseball is about. I know people hate to hear that, but I’m sorry that’s baseball. The players police themselves. Gardner hurts Guillen, he gets hit, end of discussion and we go on to playing baseball. But the umpires, by issuing all these warnings, take that aspect of the players policing themselves out of the game. I have no problem with umpires warning both benches to prevent a bean-ball war. But all I and fans ask is use common sense when issuing them. Surprisingly in that Yankee game Yankee pitcher Chad Gaudin hit Miguel Cabrera who had homered twice and a warning already issued, but Gaudin was not ejected.

As I write this, a warning in the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles game was issued after Alex Rios got hit with two outs and a runner on second. With the O’s still in the game, there is no intention of hitting Rios in that spot. But a warning was issued anyway. All umpires have to do is use common sense. They have been in baseball long enough to know when it is just a pitcher pitching inside or not. People get hit, that is baseball. Pitchers have to throw inside to command the plate. I have seen it too many times this year, umpires issuing warnings when they are not warranted. Once a warning is issued it cannot be rescinded and it makes the umpires job harder. If a batter gets hit or a pitch is inside they have to play mind-reader. Was it intentional or was it just a pitch that got away? So umpires, lets not always jump the gun and slow down with the warnings and lets just play baseball.

Now for some news around the Bigs:

I have one question for the Seattle Mariners: What were you thinking? They gave up Brendan Morrow for Brandon League and a pick. Now, League is having a pretty good year (63 IP, 2.84 ERA). But League is a reliever who doesn’t have the potential Morrow has nor does he have the stuff Morrow has. How do you give up on someone who has the stuff Morrow has. I watched him make professional, all-star quality players look horrible. In his last fifteen innings against the two best teams in baseball, the Yankees and the Rays, Morrow has given up two runs, five hits, and has a whopping twenty-nine strikeouts. His stuff is top quality and should factor into the Jay’s future for their rotation. I bet Seattle wants a do-over on that one.

This week two big name players, Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez, were rumored to go on waivers. Damon has already hit waivers, while Manny is still waiting.  These two former all-stars can play a huge role in the pennant race. Damon can still hit and can be a productive player in the two hole in a lineup. He was claimed by his former team, the Red Sox on Tuesday, but he rejected the claim to stay in Detroit. Manny is the wildcard in this pennant race. If he is claimed by the White Sox or Rays for example, who knows what he can do. If he gets out of LA and into a race we could see a similar Manny that we saw when he went to LA after leaving the Red Sox. Just to jog your memory, Manny in 53 games in 2008 with LA hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI’s. Inject anything like that into a lineup like the Rays, White Sox, or Yankees and the whole pennant race is changed.

Quick notes on those Yankees. Without A-Rod this year the Yankees are 13-1. Now that is just a statistic , there really is nothing behind that. But what is not just a stat is Robby Cano is really stepping up in A-Rod’s absence. He is closing in on his first career 30 home run campaign. Someone is going to get a nice pay day in the off-season. In other news, Javy Vaszquez’s struggles have now led him to the bullpen. Rookie Ivan Nova will take his spot in the rotation. This is a scary thought for Yankee fans because after CC Sabathia, the Yankees have Phil Hughes who is on a inning limit, a struggling A.J Burnett, journeyman Dustin Mosely, and Nova in their rotation. Now with Andy Pettite’s return pushed back even further, it seems Mosely and Nova will pitch big innings in the Bronx this fall.