City of Basketball Love

Daniel Hughes (@dan1el_sun)
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Even though it won the last game against Fordham, Saint Joseph’s isn’t necessarily looking for a repeat performance this time around.

When the Hawks (10-11, 3-6 Atlantic 10) host the Rams (9-13, 3-6 A-10) for the second time this year on Saturday night, they will try to hold onto the ball better than they did the first meeting.

St. Joe’s previously beat Fordham 70-55 on January 7 at the Rose Hill Gym in New York City. However, they committed 16 turnovers, the most in any of their wins this season.

Taking care of the ball has been a problem for the young and inexperienced Hawks squad all year. Head coach Phil Martelli aims for his team to give up less than 10 giveaways per contest. However, St. Joe’s has fallen short of that goal, giving the ball up on average 11.8 times per game.

“That’s always been a big issue with our game, we have a lot of turnovers,” junior wing James Demery said. “As long as we’ll be able to keep our turnovers down, we’ll make good plays.”

Demery made the difference for the Hawks the last time out against Fordham, scoring a career high 27 points on 10-for-16 shooting from the field and adding six rebounds. However, it is the only 20-plus point game of Demery’s career. Even though the 6-foot-6 guard averages 13.5 points per game, it is unlikely he will play the hero again for St. Joe’s.

A season-ending injury to star junior guard Shavar Newkirk has only made the turnover problem worse. In the first 12 games of the season before Newkirk suffered a torn ACL in a December 30 game against George Washington, St. Joe’s only gave up 10.6 turnovers. After his injury, the Hawks have averaged 13.3 turnovers per game.

Newkirk being out has especially sophomore tri-captain Lamarr Kimble. Kimble has averaged 4.5 turnovers per game since Newkirk, who he used to share point guard duties with, was injured. That includes the Fordham game, where Kimble gave the ball away eight times, and a January 18 loss to Massachusetts, where he had a career high nine turnovers.

Unfortunately for St. Joe’s, Fordham is one of the nation’s best at taking away the ball. The Rams have the second best turnover margin in the country with a ratio of plus 5.7. They are also third in the nation in steals, averaging 10.3 per game.

“They’re coming back with vengeance in their head, wanting to get a win over us,” Demery said. “At the end of the day we can’t expect less from them but for them to come out and play, and we’ve just got to play our game.”

Part of Fordham’s defensive success is owed to last season’s A-10 Rookie of the Year, Joseph Chartouny. The 6-foot-3 sophomore from Montreal, Quebec leads Division I with 3.48 steals per game. He also adds 11.4 points per game for the Rams, shooting 42.1 percent from the field.

Alongside Chartouny in the backcourt is redshirt junior Antwoine Anderson, who averages 11.3 points per game. Chartouny and Anderson do most of the ball-handling for Fordham, averaging 5.4 and 2.9 assists per game respectively.

“Those two guards set the tempo for them, so we’re gonna try to slow them down to start things off,” senior tri-captain Brendan Casper said. “If we can get good guard play tomorrow night I think we’ll be alright.”

St. Joe’s will start Kimble and sophomore Chris Clover opposite Chartouny and Anderson. Since their win against Fordham they have struggled, going 2-5. This game marks the end of a three-game homestand that began with a victory over La Salle on January 28.

The Rams have done much better since the loss to St. Joe’s, splitting their games 3-3, including a big win against conference leader VCU on January 18.

Overall, the Hawks will be expecting a better team than the one they faced at the beginning of Atlantic 10 play.

“They’ve changed some things up. They’re still doing some of the same things, but they’re playing with a lot more confidence now,” Casper said. “They’re not afraid to come in here and play us here, so we’ve got to be ready from the jump tomorrow night.”