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St. Joe's pulls off comeback, takes down Penn in OT to cap Big 5 doubleheader

12/01/2022, 2:15am EST
By Joseph Santoliquito

By Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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PHILADELPHIA — The Palestra is one of the most venerable basketball cathedrals on earth. It’s an intimate, bombastic setting where you see every face in the crowd and hear every word.

With roughly 10 seconds left in overtime on Wednesday night, St. Joe’s senior guard Cameron Brown had just about heard his share of imaginative words, along with a few choice words he may have been calling himself after missing three of four free throws against Penn.

That’s when redemption arrived.

Down by one, Penn’s Ed Holland drove through the lane, down went Brown, and up went an official’s hand pointing in the other direction for a charging call. The Hawks’ Erik Reynolds II and Lynn Greer III hit four free throws to solidify an amazing Hawks’ comeback toward an improbable 85-80 overtime victory.

St. Joe's guard Erik Reynolds shoots a jumper against Penn on Wednesday at the Palestra. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

The Hawks (3-3) were led by a team-high 27 from Reynolds, with 19 from Kacper Klaczek and 16 from Greer, while Penn (5-5) was led by Jordan Dingle’s game-high 28.

It was a classic that initially unfolded as a blowout, when Penn jumped out to a 27-10 lead early.

“Big 5, it’s an honor and this building is a privilege to play in, and I talked to the guys today about the games I’ve seen here, (Drexel’s) Michael Anderson scoring it felt like 50 against Navy, great games with Villanova-Georgetown, Chester-Lower Merion, and I can go on, and on, and on,” St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange said. “Just being a part of it, regardless of the outcome, is one of the honors and privileges of playing basketball in the city of Philadelphia.

“There’s not a program or a coach that I respect more than (Penn head coach) Steve Donahue, and his guys had been playing great basketball. So, a Big 5 win against a very, very good Penn team, with everything this program stands for in this building, is just great for our guys right now.”   

This is Lange’s fourth year as head coach of the Hawks and beating Penn, especially the way the Hawks battled back to beat Penn, could be the biggest victory in Lange’s coaching career to date.

“We have to keep doing it,” Lange said.

St. Joe's guard Lynn Greer, left, goes up for a shot on Penn's Lucas Monroe. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

What Lange received was defense at the right time. The Hawks started poorly on that end, getting killed by backdoor plays almost constantly all night. It didn’t help that the Quakers were shooting 50% from three-point range, while the Hawks struggled mightily at times beyond the arc. There is missing, but St. Joe’s was taking poor threes and missing badly.

What the Hawks did, which Lange will try to surely bottle, is keep their poise. Reynolds nor Greer started well. Yet, as the game progressed, and Penn’s large lead was steadily chiseled down, the Hawks’ star guards emerged.

By the end of the game, St. Joe’s actually shot better than Penn, hitting 29-65 (45%) to Penn’s 24 of 64 (42%).

“They settled in and they got back to be aggressive on defense,” Donahue said. “I thought their defense and ball pressure was really good. I thought they were very aggressive in the last 10 minutes. Kids were trying. I think St. Joe’s had a week off and they were fresh. I felt they did well and played well the whole last 10 minutes of the game into overtime.”

The play of the game was made by Brown on the defensive end. With :37 left in the overtime, and again with :23 left in the extra session, Brown could have put the Hawks up by four, but he managed to make just one of four free throws.

Brown, however, did not shrink from the spotlight. When Penn’s Holland cut through the lane, Brown was there, planted and Holland drove the through the lane, and then leaned in with his left shoulder catching Brown in the midsection. As soon as contact was made, Brown went down, the officials called a charge and Reynolds and Greer wrapped it up for the Hawks.

Penn's Lucas Monroe (22) goes up for a reverse layup Wednesday against St. Joe's at the Palestra. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“That was big, that’s a captain and that’s a senior who’s been through a lot,” Lange said about Brown. “Think about the state of college basketball and that guy is still here. Everything we had to go through and he’s still here. That says everything you need to know about Cam Brown. He’s not going to get lost in that moment when he knows his team needs him.

“He lives like that. He does whatever the next right thing is. And the next right thing was trying to take a charge and leave it in the hands of the stripes and see where it takes us. He was able to step in there after missing free throws. I can’t say enough about that guy.”

Lange was not about to address the comeback on Wednesday as his greatest up to now as his best.

“We’re trying to create something here from a storied program that has been laid out before us,” he said. “I’m more about becoming and less about labeling.”

Right now, the Hawks can be labeled on the brink of a winning record.
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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here .


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