City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) +
Casey Hughes
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In his first game as a Hawk, Jaiden Glover-Toscano soared. 

Whether it was for high-flying put-backs, high-rise jumpers or just any other opportunity to show off his leaping skills, the Saint Joseph’s sophomore certainly opened eyes on Monday night in the Hawks’ season opener against Lafayette. 

A 6-foot-5, 205-pound transfer from St. John’s, Glover-Toscano went for a game-high 23 points and came close to a double-double as St. Joe’s won its season opener after an unexpected offseason of change, 85-76 over a Lafayette squad loaded with local talent.

“The fans were great, the energy from the team was great. It was everything I expected,” Glover-Toscano said afterwards. “I just let the game come to me, I wasn’t trying to force anything.”

A Brooklyn native who graduated from the Patrick School (N.J.), Glover played in 22 games with the Red Storm last year, averaging 2.2 ppg. But the athletic 6-foot-5, 205-pound wing guard was clearly in for a bigger role with the Hawks in his second collegiate season, looking like one of their best offensive players in an exhibition win over Delaware last week. 

Though he came off the bench against the Blue Hens, Glover-Toscano was in the starting lineup for the season opener and showed why first-year head coach Steve Donahue had confidence in him. He shot 8-of-11 from the floor (2-4 3PT, 5-6 FT), grabbed nine rebounds (four offensive) and dished out four assists with just one turnover in 31 minutes of action. 

He got his game rolling with a pair of put-back layups in the first half, then a flying put-back dunk; after that, his pull-up jumper started working, and he hit a few contested ones with a hand in his face. 

“If I’ve hit a couple 3s in the first half, then I’ll be like my shot’s falling, let me keep looking for it,” he said. “Tonight I think I only had one three in the first half, so it wasn’t like my shot was falling, I was just trying to be aggressive and let the game come to me.”

“He’s a big-time athlete, he’s a big-time player, big-time IQ at all positions,” senior guard Derek Simpson said. “He’s had a great summer, he’s had a great fall, he’s had a great preseason, so he deserves this moment and all I can ask for him is keep going […] and he’s been doing that, and I expect him to keep doing that.”

Glover-Toscano originally committed to the Hawks when Billy Lange was still the head coach; after Lange left for the Knicks in September, Glover and the rest of the SJU roster stuck around. 

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of Jaiden Glover,” Donahue said. “Leaving a hard situation, comes here, the coach who recruited him is gone, and what you saw today is what he does every day.”

The Hawks led for more than 36 minutes of the contest. The Leopards coming out and buried a couple 3-pointers, but the hosts bounced back quickly and played in front from that point out.

Lafayette didn’t go down easily, however. St. Joe’s took a 10-point lead into the break and quickly saw that go down to a point within the first five minutes of the second half. 

It was a six-point game with four minutes remaining and tensions were high in Hagan Arena, but that was as close as the visitors got in crunch time. A pull-up 3-pointer by Glover-Toscano helped push the advantage back to nine; Simpson hit the dagger, making it an 83-72 game with 45 seconds left. 

Simpson, in his second year with the Hawks, added 11 points with five rebounds. Junior wing Anthony Finkley (15 points) and redshirt sophomore wing Dasear Haskins (14 points) made it four in double figures. 

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Roman product Jackson makes strong debut

After a standout career at Roman Catholic, Shareef Jackson wasted no time getting started on what he hopes will be exactly the same at Lafayette. 

Getting the start in his collegiate debut and with plenty of friends and family in attendance, Jackson played 25 minutes, finishing with 16 points and eight rebounds along with two assists in an outing that looked just like plenty he compiled while in a Cahillites uniform. 

The 6-8, 255-pound forward was 7-for-12 from the floor, showing off his impressive footwork and touch around the rim; the only downside was a 2-of-7 showing from the charity stripe — to the delight of the St. Joe’s fans, who through a promotion get free chicken whenever an opposing player misses two from the line. 

“I thought he handled himself great, we’ll take 16 and eight all year long,” Lafayette coach Mike McGarvey said. “I think that he’s had a great first couple months and he’s obviously had a big-time game here in Philadelphia.”

In a change from his high school years, when he was often the most physically advanced forward on the court in any particular game, Jackson found himself at a physical disadvantage against a massive St. Joe’s frontcourt that rotated in all sorts of size. But after missing his first three shots, he didn’t stop plugging away, 

​​"A game like this, I’ve got to play more to my strengths,” Jackson said. "I’m coming in expecting the bigger guys, bigger bigs, who are more able to block those shots, but I still think I can play around that, still leverage my body, that’s one of my biggest gifts but I’ve got to add more things — that speed, that control that college players are known for.”

Leading the way for Lafayette in this one was another local product, Malvern Prep alum Andrew Phillips, who scored 17 points on 7-13 FG. Penn Charter product Mark Butler added 10 points and four assists; George School alum and freshman center Luke Bevilacqua, who's missed much of the last two seasons due to injury, scored four points and grabbed two rebounds in 14 minutes. 

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St. Joe’s starts small

Despite some significant size on the roster, Donahue elected to go small to open the season.

In their preseason opener, the Hawks had 6-11 sophomore and Fordham Jaden Smith starting at the ‘5’ position, with 6-10 Justice Ajogbor, 7-0 Steven Solano and 6-9 Al Amadou all rotating in off the bench. 

But they opened the game against Lafayette with three guards and two wing/forwards in Finkley and Haskins, going without a starter taller than 6-8. 

“The five I put out there, I thought they earned it,” Donahue said. “I’m not worried about who starts, necessarily, because they’re all going to play; let’s see who finishes the game as well.”

Ajogbor ended up playing 14 minutes off the bench, finishing with two points and two rebounds. Solano, Amadou and Smith all played single-digit minutes, with Solano’s six points and four rebounds in seven minutes of action accounting for all of their production. Glover-Toscano and Simpson played 31 minutes each, with Finkley (27 minutes), Haskins (26), Jones (25) and freshman Austin Williford (19.5) behind them. 

Donahue indicated afterwards it was more matchup-based than anything else. 

“When you play a Patriot League team that probably has a little less size, it eliminates you using certain bodies in a game like this,” he added. “If this was an A-10 game, all those guys would really help us as well.” 

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Three-point struggles, Jones’ quiet night

It was an ugly night for St. Joe’s from beyond the arc. 

The Hawks went just 6-of-25 (24.0%) on their 3-point attempts, with Glover-Toscano and redshirt freshman Khaafiq Myers (1-2 3PT) the only two who had quality nights from deep. The rest of the team went a combined 3-of-20, getting a few clean looks that didn’t drop but too many others that were either early in the shot clock or not in rhythm for Donahue’s liking.  

“The 3-point shooting, that was a product of just not [being] patient enough, we settled a lot,” he said. “I was disappointed, we hadn’t been doing that and we did it tonight for some reason.”

St. Joe’s shot 33.5% from 3-point range last year, which was 10th in the 15-team Atlantic 10 Conference. They lost two quality shooters in Rasheer Fleming (39%) and Xzayvier Brown (35%), with only Anthony Finkley (39.6%) — who went 2-6 from beyond the arc on Monday — returning to the rotation as an above-average shooter. 

It was also a tough night for sophomore guard Deuce Jones II, who finished with two points on 1-of-10 from the floor, including 0-for-3 from deep.

“I think Deuce has been unbelievable since we’ve been here, he had a hard night for whatever reason,” Donahue said. “He’s a great basketball player. He had a rough night tonight — don’t know [why], they’re allowed to.”

On the flip side, the Hawks were strong from the foul line, hitting 19-of-22 from the charity stripe, including six-for-six in the game’s closing minutes. Finkley was 7-for-8, Glover-Toscano 5-of-6 and freshman Austin Williford was 4-of-4 as he finished with eight points in 19 quality minutes.

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