City of Basketball Love

Daniel Hughes (@dan1el_sun) &
David Gough (@DG0UGH)
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A tightly contested Big 5 contest between Penn and Saint Joseph’s came down to free throws. Sophomore Lamarr Kimble hit six of the the Hawks final 10 free throws in the final 90 seconds.

The point guard ended up with 23 points as St. Joe’s downed Penn 78-71 to earn its first Big 5 win on the year.

Of Kimble’s 23, nine came from the charity stripe.

According to head coach Phil Martelli, playing aggressive basketball and getting to the line was part of the game-plan for the Hawks (9-9, 1-2 Big 5) who snapped a three-game losing streak with the win over the Quakers (6-9, 0-3 Big 5), losers of four straight.

“We played downhill and we got at their feet,” Martelli said. “We got into one-and-ones early. They were playing zone sometimes and we got some loose rebound fouls.”

St. Joe’s found itself at the line a season-high 43 times in the win. It made 31 of those free throws on its way to shooting 72.1 percent overall.

That’s a good success rate for a team that tends to struggle from the line. According to basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy, the Hawks rank 289th in the nation at free-throw shooting with 65.8 percent.

Martelli’s goal is for his team to shoot at least 75 percent, a mark they accomplished during the second half when they went 21-for-28.

With St. Joe’s ability to get fouled, the Quakers found their two leading scorers, senior Matt Howard and freshman A.J. Brodeur, in foul trouble in the second half as both finished with four fouls. Brodeur,who has been the team’s leading scorer with 14.4 points per game, was held to single digits for just the third time this season with eight.

Martelli wanted to to take advantage of a team that has struggled on defense by getting to the foul line.

“[Penn has] a young group,” Martelli said. “The last thing that comes is defense. I think all these kids can play offense but defense is the last thing that comes. We thought that coming in, (we wanted) to play to the rim.”

Penn coach Steve Donahue was disappointed in his young team’s tendency to foul.

“It’s always been a pet peeve of mine,” Donahue said. “I want them to make shots over us. We talk about it, we show examples, how (to) defend without fouling.”

The Quakers didn’t have their best offensive effort either even though they hung in with the Hawks until the last minute.

They shot a season-high 32 three point attempts and made only eight of them (25 percent) as they would should 42.9 percent from the field overall.

There were some bright spots offensively, however. Despite his foul trouble, Howard finished with 19 points which was two from his career high.

Downingtown West product Ryan Betley was playing in just his fifth game as a Quaker after sitting out the first six weeks with a broken hand. He ended the day with a new career-high 15 points.

“A couple of guys really showed some things,” Donahue said. “A freshman like Ryan Betley comes in and plays really well in a Big 5 game...his first Big 5 game that he played in.”

Penn will try for its first and only Big 5 win this Wednesday against La Salle.

Kimble’s big night was refreshing to see for Hawk fans. The captain had been struggling of late, but Martelli says that he’s working through it.

“Talking to him, acknowledging [his struggles] in front of his teammates, you can’t be a better leader,” Martelli said. “He just has not playing well enough, but tonight he played well.”

The issue for the Neumann-Goretti product, according to Martelli, is not his scoring. He’s averaging 14.2 points per game. It’s the turnovers that has got ‘Fresh’ in trouble.

He came into Saturday averaging 4.5 turnovers a game, including a nine-turnover game last Wednesday in Massachusetts. He only turned it over twice against the Quakers.

Besides Kimble’s 23 points, three other Hawks also ended up scoring in double digits. Junior James Demery, who averaged 14.9 points per game coming in, scored 15, with 11 in the second half.

Freshman wing Charlie Brown had a career high in scoring and rebounding with 19 points and nine rebounds. Chris Clover, now starting in place of the injured Shavar Newkirk, also had 10 points.

Demery and Brown also contributed from the foul line, with Demery shooting 9-for-12 and Brown shooting 7-for-8 from the charity stripe.

Off the bench, senior forward Jai Williams made an impact, adding three points and a career high four rebounds, all in the first half.

“I think Jai Williams made the biggest difference in the first half, even though we had a 15-point lead.” Martelli said. “He did a really nice job engaging.”

St. Joe’s stormed out to that 15-point lead with five and a half minutes left in the first half before Penn got within two before halftime.

The Quakers would eventually grab the lead two minutes into the second half before Brown answered back with a three to give the Hawks the lead. Though Penn never trailed by more than ten, St. Joe’s would hold on to the lead for the rest of the night.

The win for the Hawks was their first in two weeks when they won at Fordham. It brought them back to a .500 record to which some have attributed to poor luck with injuries. Sophomore Pierfrancesco Oliva has sat out all year with a knee injury and leading scorer Newkirk tore his ACL at the end of December against George Washington.

Martelli won’t accept health issues as an excuse.

“The team that got dressed in that locker room and came out on the court, that’s our team,” Martelli said. “There are injuries all over the country.”

The Hawks will get back to Atlantic 10 play on Tuesday with a road game at St. Bonaventure’s.