City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Phil Martelli did not enter Sunday’s game with St. Louis overlooking the Billikens. His pregame council wouldn’t allow it.

“My assistant, he was telling me today before I left, ‘I think you’re going to be all right, but St. Louis is a little better than their record,’ “ the 21st-year Hawks head coach said, pointing to his six-year-old grandson, Phillip, who sat alongside the elder Martelli during the postgame press conference.

The first-place Hawks, who are in position to reach their second NCAA Tournament in three seasons, maintained their focus was on the 10-win Billikens. They just didn’t play their best basketball for the first 30 minutes of Sunday’s game.

With some stingy defense late and an offense that got better looks as the game went on, St. Joseph’s pulled away from St. Louis for a 77-63 win. The victory pushed the Hawks to 24-5 on the season and 13-3 in the Atlantic 10, keeping them tied for first place with VCU heading into the last week of the regular season.

St. Joe’s posted an impressive 60 percent field goal percentage in the second half, hitting 15 of its 25 attempts from the floor. DeAndre’ Bembry scored 19 of his game-best 27 points in the final 20 minutes and finished 11-for-16 from the floor.

“They were in that zone and we found a lot of holes in that zone in the second half and hit our shots,” said Bembry, who added eight rebounds. “We just kept the momentum going and played some defense.”

Bembry also had six assists and was part of a St. Joe’s effort which had 21 helpers on 26 field goals, which helped overcome 12 turnovers. Freshman guard Lamarr Kimble had six assists as well, and the Neumann-Goretti grad turned in another solid showing.

Kimble, who finished with eight points, was the catalyst of a 9-2 run in the second half which finally allowed St. Joe’s to get some needed separation from the threatening Billikens. Kimble scored five of the points in the run – including a momentum-grabbing 3-pointer – and assisted on the two other buckets, one by Bembry and one by senior Isaiah Miles, who finished with 18 points.

The Hawks’ ended the game on a 21-10 run, some of those final points coming in the form of a pair of resounding slams from Bembry. The junior is soaking up every win he can get, and he has an appreciation for them after going through a 13-18 season a year ago.

“We can’t let any game slide by,” Bembry said. “We went to Davidson and gave one up there. So we already know the feeling. We want to end up the season and finish in first place. And you have to win games to finish in first place.”

First place is where the Hawks stayed, and two wins in the next week would give them at least a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title. St. Joe’s heads to St. Bonaventure (a team they lost to at home earlier this month) on Wednesday and closes out the regular season by hosting Duquesne on Saturday.

If the Hawks win both and VCU drops a game against either Davidson or Dayton, the Hawks would be conference champs. And while they’re on the verge of a title, they’re still the second-most talked about college team in their own city behind No. 1 Villanova.

Martelli said he understands why the Wildcats get the press and added he thinks they deserve more. For the veteran coach and this team, it’s not about outside appreciation.

“I personally don’t care about any of the recognition, but as long as those players are pleased with what they’re doing but not satisfied,” Martelli said. “This is a special group and they’re having a special year, but they’re giving (recognition) to each other. If other people want to be involved in it or like to know more about it, fine. …We’re going to get everything we earn in the next couple of weeks.”