City of Basketball Love

Jared Leveson (@jared_leveson)
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It wasn’t anything pretty, but Billy Lange will take any win he can get. Led by their underclassmen, the Saint Joseph’s men scratched and clawed and shot its way to a 63-59 victory over Lafayette on Tuesday night at Hagan Arena. 

The Hawks are young. They have three sophomores, Lynn Greer III, Kacper Klaczek, Erik Reynolds II, and one freshman, Christian Winborne, contributing major minutes. 

But senior guard Cameron Brown’s double-double effort propelled his team’s offense against the Leopards. Brown finished the night with 20 points and 12 rebounds. 15 of his points came from beyond the arc. 

Brown bounced back nicely after shooting 1-for-9 from the field and committing three turnovers against an extremely talented Houston side. 

Reynolds II had an impressive night for St. Joe’s, too. The 2021-2022 Atlantic-10 All-Rookie Team selection and team captain registered 21 points from seven-of-thirteen shooting. Like Brown, he also scored 15 points from three-point land. 

St. Joe’s shot 42% from the field, out competed the Leopards on the glass by 30-23, and got critical stops on the defensive end when needed. 

After getting drubbed by No. 3 Houston, 81-55, in Annapolis on Friday for its season opener, St. Joe’s looked much more comfortable on its home court against a Patriot League opponent, at least early on.

The Hawks opened up a 10-point edge by halftime and led by 13 with more than 14 minutes remaining, but Lafayette used a 13-3 run to pull within three with under 10 to play. The Leopard’s made it a two-point ball game after Devin Hines’ 3-pointer with 14 seconds left. 

But Greer III converted a huge one-and-one with 11 seconds left on the clock. Down four, Lafayette had an opportunity to extend the game, but the Hawks’ defense denied their chances. Greer III’s number was then called again, except this time on the defensive end. 

The sophomore in his 12th collegiate game disrupted the Leopard’s offense when he picked up Leopards’ point guard CJ Fulton at full-court and created a mad scramble for the ball at mid-court that wound down the clock till the final buzzer. 

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Klaczek showing off improvement from 2022-23

A 6-8 native of Chorzow, Poland, Kacper Klaczek opened his freshman year in the Hawks’ starting lineup but wasn’t quite ready for Division I action, moving to the bench after four games and playing sparingly over the following seven. He then missed the final 19 games of the season after suffering an orbital fracture during practice. 

Klaczek certainly looked like he’d taken a step forward even in the Hawks’ loss to Houston to start the season, scoring six points and grabbing 12 rebounds (four offensive) in 32 minutes. He continued that solid play on Monday. 

“It’s great to have him back, losing him after Richmond last year was a big deal,” Lange said about his sophomore forward. “It hurt us and it hurt him. I don’t know if he came out in the second half, just to have him back is great.

Klaczek locked himself in the gym over the summer and Brown has noticed the sophomore’s progression from year one to year two. 

“He just needed time to get the hang of things,” Brown said. “Practice helped, we play a lot of live time in practice, live in practice, that helps him a lot, getting in the flow of the game.”

During halftime, Lafayette head coach Mike Jordan adjusted the Leopards’ defensive game-plan and keyed on Klaczek. The Leopard’s defensive adjustments paid off; the sophomore forward only attempted one field goal in the second half. 

However, Klaczek made one of the biggest plays of the evening, an offensive rebound with under two minutes to play, which led to a pair of Reynolds foul shots that made it a 59-54 game with 1:20 left. 

“He does a lot for us,” Brown continued. “He rebounds, he moves the ball, he finds open men like me and E for shots, he hits open shots, he’s a great defender.” 

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Turnover Troubles 

St. Joe’s did not make the win any easier for itself, committing eleven turnovers in the second half and eight turnovers in the final fourteen minutes. The Hawks committed 19 throughout the whole contest compared to Lafayette’s 13. 

Lange’s team struggled to protect the rock against third ranked Houston in their first contest, turning the ball over 16 times. But the fourth-year head coach is not concerned with his team’s high turnover rate. 

“I’d be concerned if I didn’t think they would listen and want to get better,” Lange said. “The intention is right, it’s only their second game, they want to win, and I think they’ll get better.”

“I don’t know if we’ll be a five turnover team a game, I don’t know that. But if we can get that number into the 13s or 12s realistically with our guys by the Atlantic 10 and then improve as the season goes on, it can be signs of improvement for us.

Reynolds and Brown combined for six of the Hawk’s turnovers but were also not overly concerned.

“Some of those turnovers we had, everybody wasn’t connected,” Reynolds said. “One person would make a move and cut backdoor and think they’re staying. [We] just have to slow down, be more connected.”

“It’s real simple things you can watch on film and fix,” Brown said.

The Leopards were able to capitalize off of the Hawks’ mistakes, scoring 28 points off the opponents miscues. On the other hand, the Hawks only scored 13 points off the Leopards’ errors. 

Last season, the Hawks turned the ball over 13.5 times per game. 

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Berger gets the start for Lafayette

For the first time in three games this season, T.J. Berger found his way in the starting lineup for the Leopards. It was a homecoming game for the Malvern native and former Westtown Friends standout, who finished with three points, four rebounds, and four assists. 

Berger’s younger brother, Quin, is a freshman guard for the Hawks, who saw limited action in the Hawks’ first game versus Houston. The Business Administration major did not see on-court action against the Leopards. 

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Fleming out with ankle injury
Rasheer Fleming, freshman from Camden, N.J., came onto the court with a boot around his right foot during warmups. Fleming was a touted high school prospect a year ago who played on the Nike EYBL circuit with the New Jersey Scholars. The 6-9 forward suffered an ankle injury and is listed as day-to-day.  The freshman scored nine points and added seven boards in his Hawks’ debut. 

With Fleming on the sidelines, St. Joe’s went to junior forward Anton Jansson as the first big off the bench but the Stockholm, Sweden native only saw the floor for 3:50 minutes. Louis Bleechmore, another junior forward, subbed for 4:07 minutes, but the Hawks learned heavily on their guards for minutes with Fleming’s absence. 

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