Philly Basketball 24 • 7 • 365

City of Basketball Love

Current Section

Home

Saint Joseph's outlasts La Salle, 55-50

03/04/2015, 10:00pm EST

By Garrett Miley

Garrett Miley (@GWMiley)
--

It was an ugly basketball game.

Saint Joseph’s and La Salle shot 30.0 percent and 31.5 percent, respectively, in what truly was a “first to 50 points wins” affair on Saint Joseph’s senior night.

Leading 49-48 with 1:10 left in regulation, it was storybook moment that sealed Saint Joseph’s 13th victory of the season. Senior point guard Chris Wilson knocked down a deep three pointer late in the shot clock to put Saint Joseph’s up 52-48 and the Hawks held on down the stretch to knock off Big-5 rival La Salle.

Wilson finished with a game high 22 points, one shy of his career high of 23, and hit five three pointers in his final game at Hagan Arena.

Wilson carried Saint Joseph’s in the first half, making four three pointers and setting the only offensive tone early.

“I always feel like the next one is going to go in,” Wilson said. “Of course as a basketball player when you see the first couple go down, you feel better.”

The 6-foot-3 guard scored 14 of the the Hawks’ 24 points in the opening 20 minutes and was the only player in double figures at halftime for either team.

“Good thing Chris had it going early for us, that was good thing,” Saint Joseph’s guard DeAndre Bembry said. “When the shots not falling I just try to come back and play defense and that’s what we did tonight.”

Bembry, like everyone on both teams with the exception of Wilson, struggled from the floor on Wednesday night. The Atlantic 10 Player of the Year candidate shot just 4-19 from the floor, but nearly put together what Hawks’ head coach Phil Martelli described as an “ugly” triple double.

“That would be the ugliest triple-double in history though if he had gotten it,” Martelli said. “Probably the basketball gods spoke to that one. He’s a good kid, not playing very well right now.”

Bembry finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and nine rebounds in the victory and helped keep the Hawks afloat and out of the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament, for now.

La Salle was paced by their leading scorer on the season, Jordan Price, who finished with 17 points on just 5-16 shooting. Price was the only Explorer in double figures against Saint Joseph’s and the only players with more than three made field goals.

Cleon Roberts shot just 1-9 from the floor and finished with just four points, while Jerrell Wright shot 3-7 from the floor and finished with eight points and six rebounds.

For the Hawks, James Demery, despite shooting just 4-12 from the floor, was a much needed spark on the offensive end of the floor. He finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 29 minutes, but his play was oozing with confidence. Martelli and his teammates have taken notice.

““He’s playing with less thought,” Martelli said of Demery. “If you watch the last game against them, and you watch James, it’s arguably the worst play by a player in my time. He was [0-for-8], he had five turnovers, he fell down with nobody around him three different times. I told [broadcaster] Tom McCarthy, he’s playing better because he’s playing with less thought.”

With one regular season game remaining for both Saint Joseph’s and La Salle, there is still a scenario where a possible three way tie would occur with Duquesne for 11th seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, meaning the team seeded there plays the 14th seed on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center.

On Saturday, the Hawks will take on Rhode Island on the road, while La Salle takes on Dayton at home as both teams look to edge out Duquesne for a first round bye.

“We really want to be playing our best basketball going into Brooklyn,” Wilson said. “Now looking forward if we can put another one together Saturday against a really good Rhode Island on the road, we’ll feel really good about going to Brooklyn.”