City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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HAWK HILL — It didn’t take long last season to realize Camden product Rasheer Fleming was going to be an important part of St. Joe’s present and future.

Fleming scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds in his Hawks’ debut last November.

The 6-foot-9 forward similarly announced himself in a big way Monday night as his sophomore campaign began with an 81-60 win for St. Joseph's men's basketball over Lafayette at Hagan Arena.

Fleming had an efficient 14 points — tied for the second highest of his career — to go along with four boards and a steal, setting the tone for his team in a dominant second half.

“I think I’m much more comfortable,” Fleming said. “Freshman year, you get kind of nervous and it affects your game. I think I’m definitely getting more comfortable around my teammates.”

Fleming had a team-high seven points in the first half as St. Joe’s took a 38-35 lead into the break. He drilled a 3-pointer and followed with an alley-oop to give his team a double-digit lead around the seven-minute mark. 

The Leopards closed the half with a 10-3 run and trimmed the lead down to two early in the second half before Fleming and the Hawks retook control.

Junior guard Lynn Greer III, who scored 15 points and added four assists, reeled off five in a row to push the lead back to seven. Then Fleming asserted himself in a crucial stretch with a 3 that pushed the lead to double digits and added another bucket to make it 51-37 with 16:19 to play before exiting with his third foul of the game.

Fleming was named one of the team's four captains before the season along with three upperclassmen in junior guard Erik Reynolds, the star of the team, fifth-year senior Cameron Brown and senior Chris Arizin. SJU head coach Billy Lange called Fleming “courageous.” He’s led the team in pregame prayer since their preseason exhibition against Towson before the start of his freshman season.

“He’s got this peace level that we want the other guys to understand,” Lange said. “He’s got this stability emotionally and mentally everyday. No matter what goes on, he shows up and we value that.”

The Hawks went through a cold stretch with Fleming on the bench, but Reynolds reeled off 11 straight to put the Hawks up 62-44 with 8:53 to play, essentially putting the game on ice.

“It’s a reliever, it is,” Fleming said of Reynolds’ presence. “It makes me happy because I know if I have a bad game he’s going to step it up all the time. It’s good to have that on your team.”

Fleming, who went 5-of-8 from the floor and had a plus/minus of plus-19 in the game, wasn’t the only eye-catcher — and neither were Reynolds and Greer. Junior Kacper Klaczek put in nine points to go along with six assists and three rebounds and was plus-22 on the night, matching Reynolds for team high. 

Freshman guard Xzayvier Brown had six points in his debut, tallying a steal within the first seconds of his college career and getting his first points on a nasty crossover and tough, left-handed finish. He often came in with sophomore Christian Winborne, who had two of St. Joe's 21 assists. Lange highlighted the play of freshman forward Anthony Finkley, Brown’s high school teammate, and freshman wing Shawn Simmons.

Even without 7-footer Christ Essandoko, who is day-to-day with a toe injury, the Hawks looked deep.

“It’s a headache because you’re never going to be able to make everyone happy and they all deserve to play,” Lange said. “This is probably the thing that singularly has kept me up most nights. Everyone is like, 'It’s a good problem to have.' Well, it’s only a good problem to have if you have to deal with it.

“And it’s not a problem. It’s just these are other people’s children and we recruited them here and humbly, we have to be honest, we haven’t been that good. Now, to have guys here who might not play as many minutes as they thought, we have to understand that. To get them in the game is on me. I’ve gotta keep developing them.”

The Hawks opened last season on the road with a loss to Houston before debuting at home on a Monday night against Lafayette with a 63-59 win in front of 1,296 people. There was a little more juice to this Monday night affair with 1,793 watching a promising team take care of business.

St. Joe’s will be back at home Friday against Penn to start Big 5 play. That one will tell a little more about the steps Fleming and his teammates have taken this offseason.

“I think a lot of people are anticipating a couple things from this team, but as we go out there, we play together and do what we do, do what we work on every single day,” Reynolds said. “And after this we just hit the ground running and keep it pushing.”

Local Debuts >> Seven different CoBL-Area alumni made their college debuts in Monday’s game. On Lafayette’s side, Penn Charter product Mark Butler got the start, finishing with two points and two steals in 19 minutes. Haverford School alumnus Luke Rasmussen added four points in 16 minutes. Cristo Rey product Josh Wyche (two points, two assists, four rebounds) and Malvern Prep product Andrew Phillips (three points) also got on the board.

For the Hawks, Roman products Brown and Finkley were both in the rotation. Finkley had two points, three assists and five rebounds in 12 minutes. Shipley School product Will Lange, Lange’s son, saw his first collegiate action as well.

“Until he missed the two free throws, yeah it was great,” Lange said. “It’s not about Will. It’s not about his dad, it’s just I gotta coach him like every other guy, but I’m sure it was really exciting for my wife.”