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.

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.

There goes Dayton, now what?

Who ever came up with the idiom “once bitten, twice shy” was never a St. Joe’s basketball fan. Keep that in mind as I jump in my inner tube and float out into the shark tank that is optimism about this program.

Last night’s win over Penn puts the Hawks at 8-11 with 11 games to play. And a crazy little thought popped into my head on the walk from the Palestra to 30th Street Station: what does this team have to do to salvage a .500 season?

The obvious answer, which hit me not unlike a splash of water from the 42 bus heading up Walnut Street, is to go 7-4. But is that something that this team, who looked dead in the water and could have folded after losing eight of nine and were on their way to another loss at halftime at the hands of Fordham at home, is capable of?

Here’s what’s left for the Hawks:

Hawks stay hot in rout of Penn

It started out dicey, but by the end of the night the Hawks made no mistake in romping over Penn, 85-64. The win is their third in a row and just their second away from the Hagan Arena all season, joining their victory over Boston College at the Paradise Jam in the US Virgin Islands.

The game got off to a nervy start as neither team was able to impose their will offensively, and the teams were deadlocked at 27 with 5:41 left in the half. Compounding it for the Hawks was foul trouble for Garrett Williamson, ’10, who had to sit the last 9:45 of the period with two fouls.

But even without their senior marathon man, the Hawks mounted a charge into the halftime break, and finished with a 13-0 spurt to take a 40-27 edge.

SJU vs. VILLANOVA Live Doubleheader: UPDATED

1:03- Well, we hope you’ve enjoyed our live look at the St. Joe’s-Villanova historic doubleheader day. It’s taken seven and a half hours, two train rides, a cab fare, four press passes, a bunch of running, lots of bad jokes, almost 6,000 words, two St. Joe’s losses, and a chunk of two writers’ sanity. That’s all we’ve got for tonight.

Thanks for reading, and good night.

12:15- Before we leave the Palestra, something has to be said about the effort of the Saint Joseph’s men’s team tonight. There was a clear gulf in talent between the two squads that proved irreconcilable, but the team that was out there tonight certainly wasn’t lacking for effort. It’s hard to believe that team that took the number three team in the nation to task for portions of the game tonight is the same team that couldn’t get past DePaul, Cornell, or Rider. If they can bring the same effort with them to Minnesota, they can fly back halfway across the country with a quality win in the bags. It may be too much to ask for this to be a turning point of the season, though rivalry games as hard-fought as this one often can be, but the desire of this team, at least tonight, isn’t something to be questioned.

12:05- A little reaction from both coaches:

Phil Martelli:

“The goal here was to be better than we were yesterday. We had 2 good days of practice, probably the best two consecutive days all year. We didn’t lose four in a row in one day; we got there collectively and daily. This was about this day and bout playing better basketball, and I think we were able to accomplish this.

“The worse compliment you can be paid, when they’re walking down that line shaking hands, is to say you played hard, because that’s bulls—t. It means you weren’t good enough. You play to win, and we didn’t win, so we came up short.

“I was pleased with out response. Against Purdue we crumbled. When they punched us in the chest in the second half, we absolutely cracked. Against Cornell, we cracked. It never really got uncomfortable for them, but we didn’t crack.

“In some ways, it was like a bout. They took a swing, we took a swing, then they took a swing. Were walking out of here scoring 89 points, and I’m saying we were working up hill the entire second half. We came here to win, and we played for 40 minutes.

“My fear was that if we had stopped, what would have happened is that this is a tremendous defensive team. If we had stopped and played possession basketball, they would have pushed up on us and made it physically difficult to make the next pass and the next pass. They’re remarkably balanced. They have a way about them offensively that is very fluid, and a way about them defensively that is very tough.

“I play to win basketball games, and this stinks. Tonight and for basically the last month. But for these kids, I want memories they can take with them. Not all losses are losing experiences, and not all wins are winning experiences; and this wasn’t a losing experience.”

Jay Wright:

“I don’t have anything else to say about these games. You can never predict what is going to happen and just have to tough it out. You never now what’s going to happen. St Joe’s has such passionate fans.

“Their team played great, and I’m proud of our guys. It’s a tough gritty Big 5 win.

“That’s the type of ft shooing team I want them to be; that’s what I mean by gutty.

[On Martelli’s assertion that they were never uncomfortable] “Yeah, yeah. The whole game. I don’t know if they [the players] were. They might not have because they might not know the history, but I’ve seen the history. We knew coming in, with all the young guards who are going to be great one day, one of them is going to go off and I don’t know which one. That’s what I was afraid of. Was it going to be two of them?

[On Taylor King] “Nothing is going on in that mind when he shoots the ball. He just shoots it anytime anywhere. That is the beauty of him.”

11:55- 22 points for Scottie Reynolds and 20 off the bench from Taylor King, including four threes in the second half, led the Cats over the Hawks tonight. Pena chipped in 15, along with 13 from Fisher, nine off the bench from Wyans, and eight from Cheek. The story down the stretch for Nova was from the free-throw line, as they finished 35 of 40, including a streak of 28 straight in the second half. The shot 46.8 percent from the field (46.6 percent) and eight of 19 from three. They held the edge on the boards, led by nine from King.

The Hawks were led by 22 points from Hilliard in a stellar effort (5-5 from the field, 12-13 from the line) along with a team high seven boards. Govens had 19 points on 7-13, 3-7. Jones and Crosgile had 16 and 12, respectively, but combined for six turnovers. Williamson added 13 points and seven assists.

The Hawks got dominated on the boards to the tune of 42-31, and each team had 16 turnovers. St. Joe’s shot 25-58 (43.1 percent) from the field and 10-26 (38.5 percent) from three. They missed nine free throws though, led by a six of 10 performance by Williamson, which could have kept the game closer down the stretch.

11:32- While we wait for Martelli and Wright to enter the press room, let’s catch you up on the women’s stats which I’m sure you’re dying to here. The final margin was 56-42, with the Wildcats outscoring the Hawks 32-30 in the second 20 minutes. Lauren Sweeney and Heather Scanlon led the way off the bench with 15 and 10, respectively. The Wildcats’ bench almost beat the Hawks on their own with 38 points.

The Hawks got 10 points each from Gillespie, Ford, and Djouara. They shot just 15-51 from the field (29.1 percent) and finished with 16 turnovers to just three assists.

11:25- Reynolds again sinks both, and a missed three by Govens is fumbled out of bounds by Nova. Crosgile returns the favor on the ensuing possession, and the Cheek dribbles out the clock in a 97-89 win by the Wildcats. Final stats and comments to come.

Now it’s Paradise: Hawks topple Boston College

How do you improve on paradise? How about with some winning basketball?

The Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team tallied their biggest win in some time with a huge 84-80 upset of Jesuit rival Boston College tonight in the Paradise Jam Tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Garrett Williamson, ’10, led the way with 18 points, including the team’s final 10 points to secure the victory.  With the Hawks down 76-74 with 2:03 left, Williamson drove the lane and hit a layup to tie the game at 76. Two possessions later, Williamson was again active in the lane, laying the ball in and completing the old-fashioned three-point play from the line to give the Hawks a 79-76 lead. He would add five free throws on six attempts down the stretch to seal the win.

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Carl Jones, ’13, and Darrin Govens, ’10, each added 16 points for St. Joe’s (3-0). Chris Prescott, ’12, and Idris Hilliard, ’11, each had nine, while Charoy Bentley, ’11, chipped in seven big bench points. The Hawks had nine of the 10 players who hit the floor score, accounting for 29 bench points.

The Hawks were paced by a huge effort from three, as they converted 10 of 21 attempts (47.6 percent) from deep, including 4-6 from Govens and 3-4 from Jones. They were outrebounded 46-38 and still managed just 57 shots, but limited turnovers (11 against 13 assists), and converted 20 of 27 attempts from the line.

Boston College was led by 20 points from Joe Trapani, but he didn’t score in the last 13 minutes of the game and spent large spells on the bench due to foul trouble. Reggie Jackson had 18 points and 11 boards, while Corey Raji, back after a two-game suspension, had 11 points.

The Hawks now sit in the winner’s bracket where they await the winner of Purdue and South Dakota State. Purdue is ranked no. 7 in the nation, but is without the services of starting point guard Lewis Jackson.

-Matthew De George ’10