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 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.

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.

Hawks in the pros: 2009-2010 season

With the NBA playoffs entering the second round, we figured it would be a good time to catch up with some St. Joe’s basketball’s most illustrious alumni who are continuing their careers on the professional hardwood.

The conversation—much like just about any other discussion of St. Joe’s basketball—starts with its most famous alumni, Jameer Nelson.

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The Orlando Magic point guard had to contend with injuries again this season and saw his numbers drop from last year’s career season. He finished the regular season averaging 12.6 points and 5.4 assists in 28.6 minutes per game over 65 games; all three totals were slightly above his career average.

He was slowed by torn knee cartilage in November that caused him to miss 17 games. But he averaged 13.8 points per in the 47 regular season games since returning to action on Dec. 19 and has assumed his usual role as a vital cog in the sixth-highest scoring offense in the league for the Southeast Division Champs.

Who wants to punch Urban Meyer?

For those of you who didn’t see Urban Meyer’s tirade against Orlando Sentinel reporter Jeremy Fowler last week, we can fill you in. (Also, make sure you adjust the video clip to reflect ESPN’s pro-Florida stance just in case they ever have to enter this piece of Gator protection into talks to purchase more SEC games from CBS.)

Anyway, it’s the classic story that brings two people together. Players says something dumb to reporter. Reporter does his job. Coach gets pissed and rants to preserve his gridiron domain.

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Let’s pass out some blame here. First of all, Deonte Thompson has to be more aware of what he’s saying. Yes, it’s probably a simple misunderstanding, but as a journalist, it’s not Fowler’s job to affix meaning to an interviewee’s words. Fowler presented them with plenty of context and the offending sentence came at the end of a long quote. If Urban’s going to be mad at someone, maybe it should be at the player who apparently sleep-walked through his media relations briefings.

That brings me to Urban, who absolutely confronted the wrong person in this situation in the wrong way and, thankfully for the rest of us, at the wrong time near a video crew that could broadcast his childish tantrum to the world. If he was going to take it out on someone, maybe it should have been Thompson for spilling the secret that Meyer spent countless hours diagramming offenses to try to hide. Surely, most everybody attending NFL workouts knows it, as does any wideout running a 20-yard out route off a five-step drop.

And finally, there is some blame that has to go out to Fowler himself. Not because he did his job wrong; he absolutely didn’t. As far as anyone has reported, he obtained the quote properly and followed all due diligence in the process with the lone exception of checking the “Urban Meyer Manual of Self-Service” which should be located next to his AP Style guide. The major mistake he made was not dropping Meyer like a bad habit right then and there. Yes he would have lost his job, but he would have entered the halls of infamy forever, and become something close to the next Jim Rome.

I also have to say that I’m disappointed with Fowler’s interview with media after Big Bad Urban found it in his heart to be told to apologize. Of all people to give a meaningless interview which tells people nothing and is full of lip service and cliches, you’d think a journalist would shy away from it for karma’s sake, if nothing else. I understand he has to cover his ass and try to patch the bridge which Meyer just fire-bombed for the good of his career, but from the outside, it just looks like acquiescence to the Gator machine.

-Matthew De George ’10

Oh, when we were young! Revisiting our preseason predictions

Ok, I’ll take the blame: I was responsible for ranking the men’s Atlantic 10 basketball field in our Basketball Preview way back when in November. With the A-10 Tournament looming, what better time than the present to simultaneously pat myself on the back while kicking myself  over the path taken by my prognostications? All comments, insults, and compliments (especially compliments) are welcomed.

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Dayton

Our prediction: 1

Final place: 7

It’s hard to figure where Dayton’s season went awry. They started out 13-3—with a win over a ranked Georgia Tech and two narrow losses at other ranked opponents in New Mexico and Villanova. But the Flyers stumbled down the stretch, going 6-8 in their final 14 games, including losses in five of their last seven outings. Defense’s penchant for keying in on Chris Wright successfully has limited his ability to take over games. He hasn’t been the superstar he’s needed to be, and the supporting cast has been unspectacular.

Xavier

Our prediction: 2

Final place: 2

Bull’s-eye! I’ll take any victory I can get. It didn’t look that way early on, with the Musketeers stumbling out of an extraordinarily tough nonconference slate with an 8-5 record. But this young squad, led by A-10 scoring champ Jordan Crawford and the rapid maturation of Jason Love into a premier big man, has meshed down the stretch. They’ve crept into the Top 25 thanks to a seven-game win streak, and could end up with a high seed in the Big Dance if they can buck their trend of poor showings in the A-10 Tourney in recent history.