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Saint Joseph’s Rarely Threatened in Win at Penn
 Saint
Joseph’s might have been wary of their opponent, the Penn Quakers.
And for good reason. In their last 3 games, Penn averaged 91 points.
The Quakers also averaged over 9 three-pointers per game. And lastly,
Saint Joseph’s “home” game was actually at the Palestra, the
University of Pennsylvania’s home court.
Defense wins championships. That is the saying,
isn’t it? Well the Hawks might just be on their way to an A-10 regular
season title and a Big 5 title. Saint Joseph’s held the preseason Big
5 favorite to 48 points in a sound defeat of the Quakers at a packed
Palestra, 66-48.
Many fans of the Hawks question whether Saint
Joseph’s should play the game at the Palestra. They have good
reason. Foremost, the Hawks have an outstanding record and home court
advantage at the Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. Moreover, certain Saint
Joseph’s players have struggled with their shot at the Palestra. Most
recently, former player Na’im Crenshaw of the Hawks seemed to never
have a good performance there. And the Penn fans took notice of it.
Quaker fans hung a rollout banner that said, “Hawks: Where’s No’
Aim?”
And the Hawks top 2 stars did struggle with their
shot. Jameer Nelson and Delonte West shot a combined 10-32 (31.3%).
But an inconsistent Pat Carroll was right on the mark. Carroll, who
has had an array of phenomenal shooting nights followed by awful
shooting nights this season, was on his game. The sophomore from
Hatboro-Horsham drained 5 three-pointers on his way to 16 points.
Penn only had two leads throughout the game (3-2
and 11-10). Trailing 11-10, the Hawks went on an 8-0 run orchestrated
by Jameer Nelson. Nelson canned back-to-back trifectas and followed
them with a steal and feed for a Dwayne Jones dunk. Aside from a
technical foul whistled on Tyrone Barley for taunting following the
dunk, the Hawks actually accounted for 14 straight points. The lead
was 24-12 by then.
Penn tried to come back. Ugonna Onyekwe converted
consecutive baskets and a Quaker teammate made one free to account for
a 5-0 mini-run. But two Carroll three-pointers capped off an 8-2 Hawk
run to end the first half, 32-19.
The Hawks’ big 3 of Nelson, West, and Carroll
combined for 28 of the 32 points. The Hawks led 18-12 in the
rebounding battle. Saint Joseph’s made 7 first half three-pointers.
The defense forced 11 Penn turnovers and limited the Quakers to
1-for-5 three-point shooting.
Penn could only cut the lead to 8 points twice in
the second half (38-30 and 49-41). At 38-30, Saint Joseph’s answered
with three-pointers by West and Carroll to restore the lead to 14
points. And at 49-41, the Hawks ran off 7 straight points to stretch
the lead to 15 points.
A great sign for Hawk fans is the way the players
closed out the game. Saint Joseph’s shot 16-for-19 from the free
throw line in the second half. They never let Penn back in the game.
Final numbers for the Hawks:
Jameer Nelson had 18 points and 5 assists.
Delonte West had 15 points and 6 rebounds.
Pat Carroll had 16 points.
Dwayne Jones had 7 points and 10 rebounds in just
21 minutes.
They held Penn to 35% FG and 4-for-17 from
three-point land. Onyekwe held top scoring honors with 13 points.
Jeff Schiffner and Koko Archibong had 12 points and 10 points,
respectively.
The win was #140 for head coach Phil Martelli. It
upped the Hawks’ record to 14-2 overall, 5-1 in the A-10, 2-0 in the
Big 5. The win was the 9th non-conference win in 10
attempts. Only one more non-conference game remains—against Villanova
on Feb 3rd.
The Hawks hit the road Wednesday night. They face
George Washington at 7:30pm.
E-Mail the Author:
Patrick Wandalowski
Hawks Trounce Fordham
The
Saint Joseph’s Hawks received the perfect prescription after
experiencing a gut-wrenching defeat at the buzzer against the Rhode
Island Rams—a game in Philadelphia against the Fordham Rams.
Fordham entered the game with the dubious
distinction of having lost every time they have entered the city of
Philadelphia against an A-10 team. Fordham has compiled an 0-25
record against Temple (0-8), Saint Joseph’s (0-7), LaSalle (0-3), and
against all A-10 tournament opponents (0-7).
This trip was no different. The Hawks cruised most
of the second half after building up a big lead en route to blowing
out the Rams 79-46.
Delonte West continued his torrid play as of late.
He led all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-15 shooting. The
All-Atlantic 10 1st team candidate also had 3 assists and 3
rebounds. Jameer Nelson rebounded from his disastrous outing against
Rhode Island. He accounted for 9 points, 9 assists, and 4 rebounds
without a single turnover.
Pat Carroll returned from his hiatus by knocking
down four three-pointers on his way to 16 points. The large margin
allowed some of the younger players to play extended minutes. Dwayne
Jones was solid again, registering 6 points and 8 rebounds. Chet
Stachitas is quickly becoming acclimated with the offense. The
freshman from Florida racked up 10 points and 6 rebounds. And Dwayne
Lee, the likely successor at point guard when Nelson’s days are
through at Hawk Hill, was effective running the team in the second
half. He recorded 5 assists.
Surprisingly it was Fordham who got off to a
terrific start. Fueled by back-to-back three-pointers by Michael
Haynes, the Rams led 12-3. The Hawks were extremely sloppy from the
onset. Illegal screens and over-the-back fouls gave way to four quick
turnovers.
With the Rams leading 15-8, a gambler might have
felt pretty secure. That is, if he was taking the points. The Hawks
entered the game as a 25 point favorite in some betting outlets.
But the Hawks came back strong. Saint Joseph’s
went on a 17-3 run (including a 12-0 run) to take the lead by five
points, 20-15. They held the Rams without a point for over 8 minutes
until Mark Jarrell—Wright hit two free throws. The Hawks closed the
half on a 12-0 run for a 38-22 lead. From the point when Fordham led
15-8 to the end of the half, the Hawks outscored the Rams 30-7.
As usual, Delonte West and Jameer Nelson were the
catalysts for the first half. West scored all but 2 of his 19 points
in the half. Nelson was the ultimate floor general. He tallied 6
assists by the break. The Hawks (50%) out shot the Rams (22%) and
were a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.
The game was for all accounts over early in the
second half. Pat Carroll led a 14-4 Hawk barrage with 8 points. The
Hawks had finally doubled Fordham’s score, 52-26. And the rest was
garbage time.
Jameer Nelson played only 27 minutes. That was
good news for the point guard who has been under the weather recently
and has been battling a finger injury.
Saint Joseph’s totaled 22 assists on their way to
48% FG shooting for the game. They won the rebounding battle 41-30
and rendered Fordham’s 340 lb center Glenn Batemon useless for much of
the game. The Hawks also connected on 10 three-pointers.
Michael Haynes led Fordham with 10 points and 7
rebounds. Jarrell—Wright added 9 points and Drew Williamson had 8
points.
Saint Joseph’s (13-2, 5-1 A-10) next faces a
surging Pennsylvania team. The winner of this game will hold the edge
in determining the Big Five champion. The game is slated for Saturday
night at the Palestra at 8pm on Comcast Sports Net.
E-Mail the Author:
Patrick Wandalowski
Follow St. Joseph's Basketball each
week here at Collegehoopsnet.com!
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