City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Saint Joseph's injury woes just won't end.

The Hawks announced Friday morning that junior guard Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble will miss the rest of the season after re-injuring a foot injury in the opener against Toledo.

Kimble, 6-0 point guard out of Neumann-Goretti, missed the final seven games of last season with a broken fifth metatarsal in his left foot that required surgery. He will require surgery yet again, which will force him to take a redshirt.

“I’m very disappointed for ‘Fresh’ that all of his hard work and dedication from the spring, summer and fall won’t be shown on the court,” Hawks head coach Phil Martelli said in a statement released by the program. “He and his family recognize how much I, and we, value their partnership. His teammates recognize that all must come forward to fill not only the playing gap, but the leadership gap as well. I fully expect that ‘Fresh’ will continue to be a vocal and inspirational leader for this team.”

Last year, Kimble averaged 15.5 ppg and 4.5 apg, starting all season long but playing almost every minute after Shavar Newkirk tore his ACL last December. When he went down with the foot injury in January, he was the fourth member of the team to suffer a season-ending injury. He was named a preseason all-Atlantic 10 Third Team selection, and had 10 points in the team's season opener.

The Hawks were picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll.

Newkirk is back on the floor, but Kimble joins Charlie Brown (wrist) as Hawks starters on the sideline. Brown, a 6-6 sophomore, will be re-evaluated on Nov. 20 and could be cleared for action then.

Without Kimble, the Hawks will need to rely on 6-6 sophomore Nick Robinson at backup point guard. Robinson, an Illinois native, is averaging 5.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 2.5 apg in 26.5 mpg off the bench through the first two games this season.

Saint Joseph's (1-1) has its home opener on Saturday night against Princeton; tipoff is at 7 PM.