St. Joe’s vs. Duquesne LIVE Game Blog

3:53: Ford misses the free throw, but lays down a nasty block on the other end. The seniors get called off the court to cheers as the clock runs down, winning 69-56. The victory gives the Hawks the fifth seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

3:51: Pollino misses the 3, and after getting the rebound Logue is fouled by Pryor, shooting two. She misses the first, and makes the second, and on the other end Abel misses the shot to give the Hawks the ball. Ford gets the rebound and draws the foul, Pollino’s fifth of the game.

3:47: Ford gets called on a questionable offensive foul , but intercepts the pass on the other end. Djouara miss the layup to give the Dukes the ball. Pollino gets the layup to cut the lead to four. Shelby Smith then gets the layup to bring it back to six. Gensler misses the 3, and on the Hawk possession, the Hawks waste some clock and cap the drive with two points from Gillespie. the Hawks bring the lead back up to 8 with 1:06 left in the game.

3:45: Smith hits a quick layup, but Pryor counters on the other end. Coach Griffin calls a timeout to figure things out. Hawks up 62-56 with 3:10 left.

3:43:  3:46 left in the game, Hawks up 60-54 at an official timeout.

Your guide to the stretch drive

Just about four months ago, as everyone on Hawk Hill awaited the forthcoming basketball season with the ever so alluring and deceptive hope that accompanies each fresh season, St. Joe’s fans  (this one included) sat back and looked at a somewhat bleak outlook and told themselves, “It’s not that bad. It won’t be that bad. Right?”

Well, we were wrong. And now the possibility that hung so forebodingly in the shadows all season long has been brought to the forefront as realistic as can be: the Hawks failing to qualify for the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Now, before we go forward, let’s just make something eminently clear. This team, even if it does sneak somehow sneak into a 12-seed in the conference tournament, isn’t  going anywhere. These last two games of the regular season aren’t a prelude to a miraculous run from the back of the back to the Big Dance in the homestretch. Inclusion in the top 12 of the A-10 is at best window dressing, and possibly undeservingly so, for what has been a very rough season. It may be akin to making sure all the tables in the main dining hall of the Titanic were neatly set just before hitting the iceberg, but it’s still something, albeit small, to hang their hats on. And who are we kidding, it’s a pride issue, and possibly a recruiting issue.

But even with that in mind, because we have to fill space on this blog somehow, here’s how things shake out:

Olympics hockey tournament, week 1

The Games of the 21st Winter Olympiad are just about halfway home. For those of you not sick of the seemingly endless stream of Mary Carillo allegedly heart-wrenching fluff features, here are some of the biggest story lines from the premier competition of these Games.

The men’s ice hockey tournament is off to a schizophrenic start (and yes, fans of sequin-vested Russians, it is the premier sport). We’re now in the middle of the third round of games, and I no one is asserting anything looking like dominance on the tournament just yet. Let’s take it team by team to see where everyone stands:

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Canada: When I thought of writing this on Thursday, I thought by opening observation would be about how strong Les Habitants looked after their thrashing of Norway. But the Swiss begged to differ. I don’t know what it is about the Swiss, but they the biggest threat to Canada since Alan Alda in “Canadian Bacon”. If they were ever to somehow meet up in the knockout rounds, and the Swiss were to pull the upset, Stephen Harper would have no choice but to declare war. I’m picturing something like the US invading Kuwait in the first Gulf War, only instead of oil wells and deserts, we’ll have ski resorts and chocolate factories burning through the night.

Saint Joe’s Hawks vs. Temple LIVE Game Blog

2:40 Looking back at the game, the Hawks put out one of their best efforts on the court this season, both offensively and defensively. In the second half, they came out firing on all cylinders defensively, with Phill Martelli not waiting around for players to warm up. “In the first half I was waiting for guys to play,” said Martelli, “I didn’t wait for guys to play in the second half.” Both Williamson and Govens led the offense today with 20 and 21 points, respectively. The problem for the Hawks, however, was Ramone Moore, who had a career-high 24 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Martelli admitted, “Every guy gave us something, but we didn’t do enough with Ramone Moore”. Despite finding a way to tighten up their inside defense, the Hawks couldn’t stop Ramon Moore and Juan Fernandez in Overtime, which ultimately led to heir demise today. Looking ahead, Phil Martelli summed it all up, “We have to be better on Monday than we were today. We have to go on the road an be an impact team.” If the Hawks want to have a chance to make it to Atlantic City, this will have to be the case: they’ll need to play well against Charlotte and later George Washington on the road if they want a chance to play in the conference tournament.

Well, that about wraps it up from the Palestra. This is Tom Hagan signing off after a rough loss for the Hawks by a score of 75-76 in Overtime.

2:15: With a Govens miss, it’s now foul time. Prescott misses a 3 and Fernandez gets fouled by Williamson. He makes one  and another Williamson miss seals this loss for the Hawks. Temple wins, 75-67. More postgame to come soon.

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.

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.

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!!

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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.