City of Basketball Love

Daniel Hughes (@dan1el_sun)
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In a hard-fought battle that went down to the wire, Saint Joseph's escaped the DAC with a 72-71 win over the host Drexel Dragons. 

At first…
Drexel’s offense came out of the gate strong with two pairs of early 3-pointers by both Kurk Lee and Sammy Mojica, along with a furious and-one dunk by senior forward Rodney Williams that fired up the crowd at the DAC three minutes in. The Dragons held onto a commanding lead for most of the first half, but the Hawks managed to cut it to 38-34 on a step-back buzzer beater by point guard Shavar Newkirk that ended the first.

Drexel carried their lead into the second half, and it eventually reached 11 on a layup by freshman Kari Jonsson with 15 minutes to go. But five minutes later, Brendan Casper came charging down on the fastbreak to convert on a pass from his teammate Newkirk to tie the game at 52-52 with ten minutes left. The game would stay within one possession until the final two minutes.

Turning Point…
Miles Overton scored on a pass from Lee with two minutes left to put the Drexel lead at 71-67. Although Newkirk hit a pair of free throws, Drexel committed two shot clock violations in the final minute and a half after Jonsson airballed threes on back-to-back possessions. Newkirk scored an and-one to tie the game, then knocked down the free throw in front of a loud Drexel student section to put the Hawks up by 72-71 with 10 seconds remaining. This would be the final score, as Javon Baumann and Markell Lodge came up with massive blocks to seal it for the Hawks.

Standout Stars…
Senior forward Rodney Williams continued his dominance, scoring a career high 29 points. The 6-foot-7 product of St. Christopher’s (Va.) was able to do it off of 11 for 16 shooting from the charity stripe.

For the Hawks, the point guard duo of Shavar Newkirk and Lamarr Kimble once again turned in a stellar performance. The junior Newkirk, put up 27 points on 10 for 16 shooting from the field. He also scored the last 11 points for St. Joe’s and matched a career high in rebounds with seven. Kimble, a sophomore and one of three team captains, added 16 points, and hit the Hawks only two 3-pointers in the first half.

Noteworthy Numbers…
5: Sam Green scored his first career points in the fifth game of his young career on a tip-in layup with four minutes left to go in the first half. The 6-foot-6 freshman forward from Bowie, Md. also hit a three a minute later to raise his total to five.

Up Next…
Saint Joseph’s (4-4) at Princeton -- Wed., Dec. 14, 5:00 PM
Drexel (4-5) at Rider -- Fri., Dec. 16, 7:00 PM