City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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St. Joe’s lost its first road game of the season and gave up 56 second-half points in a 99-93 defeat at Davidson on Saturday afternoon. The loss comes just days after the Hawks knocked off No. 15 Dayton and moves them out of a tie for first place in the Atlantic 10.

At first…
This one was fast-paced the entire way, but St. Joe’s jumped out to an early lead, going up 24-16 6:30 into the game. The Hawks led by five at halftime (48-43), and senior forward Isaiah Miles had 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the first half.

Turning point…
The Wildcats went on an 11-2 run in the span of about two minutes late in the second half to turn what was a 79-75 St. Joe’s lead after a Miles’ and-1 in the paint into a five-point lead for Davidson with about five minutes left. St. Joe’s never regained the lead.

Shining stars…
Jack Gibbs, the A-10’s leading scorer, did his thing on Saturday. Gibbs went 11-for-18 from the field, hit five threes and ended with a game-best 35 points. Nathan Ekwu also chipped in 18 for the Wildcats, 10 of which came from the charity stripe.

Noteworthy numbers…
St. Joe’s, which usually shoots more free throws than its opponent, had 16 free throw attempts. Davidson, meanwhile, was 29-for-38 from the foul line. …The Wildcats hit 10 of their 21 3-point attempts. …DeAndre’ Bembry scored 19 points, but he played just 27 minutes due to foul issues, and the Hawks had 23 fouls to the Wildcats’ 15.