City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)

St. Joseph’s moved to 6-2 on the season, beating Princeton, xx-xx, in a defensive affair Tuesday night at Hagan Arena. DeAndre Bembry carried the Hawks, posting a double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

At first…
Neither team had a clean first half. St. Joe’s shot 42.9 percent from the field, but turned it over three times. Bembry and Isaiah Miles combined for 20 of the Hawks’ 28 points in the first half, but no other starter scored. Meanwhile, Princeton shot just 27.3 percent in the first half, but stayed in the game with six 3-pointers. The Tigers shot 35.3 percent from distance in the first half and just 18.8 percent on 2-pointers.

Turning point…
Princeton refused to go away, despite the poor shooting tonight. But with 2:16 left, James Demery found some space on the baseline, drove and slammed it home while getting fouled. The and-1 put the Hawks up by 12.

Shining stars…
With both teams struggling on offense, Bembry showed he was the best player on the floor. He led all scorers with 27 points on 11-of-17 shooting and also had four steals and three assists.

For Princeton, junior forward Steven Cook had a team-high 15 points and hit six of his 13 field goals.

Noteworthy numbers…
Bembry, Miles and forward James Demery combined to score 52 of St. Joe’s 62 points, doing so on 20-for- 35 shooting. The rest of the team had just 10 points and went 2-for-22 from the floor. ...Guard Aaron Brown had a career-best 26 points in the Hawks’ last game, a Friday win against Columbia. Brown was held scoreless, missing all seven of his attempts Tuesday night.

Up next…
St. Joe’s (6-2) @ Temple (12/13, 4 p.m.)
Princeton (4-2) @ Lipscomb (12/12, 4 p.m.)