AP Photo

March 12, 2009 | AP Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Ryan Brooks had 19 points to lead four players in double figures and lift Temple over Saint Joseph’s 79-65 in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament on Thursday.

Sergio Olmos had 14 points and Semaj Inge and Craig Williams added 12 apiece for the defending champion Owls (20-11), who will now face No. 19 Xavier in a semifinal game Friday. Tasheed Carr matched his career high with 23 points and Ahmad Nivins had 21 points and 14 rebounds for Saint Joseph’s (17-15).

The Owl, who were in command for most of the game, led 43-28 at halftime and stretched their advantage to 22 points, 58-36, with 10:15 left. The Hawks then got as close as nine when Darrin Govens converted a layup to make it 65-56 with 4:31 remaining, but Lavoy Allen scored two straight baskets and the Owls maintained double-digit leads for the rest of the game.

AP Photo

March 11, 2009 | AP Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Tasheed Carr scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the second half to lead Saint Joseph’s to a 72-62 win over Charlotte on Wednesday in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Ahmad Nivins added 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Hawks (17-14, 10-7), who now face Temple on Thursday in a rematch of last year’s final. Garrett Williamson finished with 12 points for St. Joe’s, while Idris Hilliard had 10.

Lamont Mack had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the 49ers (11-20, 5-12), while Ian Andersen added 12 points and DiJuan Harris finished with 11 points and nine assists.

St. Joe’s trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and were down 30-23 at the break. But they opened the second half with an 11-2 run and were in command for the rest of the game.

Starting Thursday afternoon, John Lamb of A10CollegeHoops.com will be courtside at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ to bring you live coverage of the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Conference Tournament. We will be giving you with live updates throughout the day. If it happens on the court, you will read about it right here.

With so many players, media personalities and other distinguished guests in the house you can bet that we will have plenty of interviews and other features to keep you busy in-between sessions. John will also be running a live blog for each game in case you don’t have access to television or radio.

Keep it here even after your favorite team experiences the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat as we will be sharing audio from all of the post game press conferences that take place throughout the week.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please feel free to contact us via the link at the top of the page, by posting in the comments section or reaching out to us during one of the live blogs.

Finally, here is a down and dirty version of how John thinks tomorrow’s set of games will play out.

#8 La Salle vs. #9 St. Louis – This is certainly an interesting matchup as these two teams played this passed Saturday. Just like the last meeting, La Salle walk out with the W and move on to Day 2 of the tournament. This time they will do it by beating St. Louis at their own game: defense. This will be an ugly, defense-first kind of game.  EXPLORERS 62, BILLIKENS 54

#5 Saint Joseph’s vs. #12 Charlotte – SJU handled the 49ers in their previous matchup back in January but that was then and this is now. Neither team is really setting the world ablaze as Charlotte has dropped four of five since upsetting Xavier at Halton Arena and the Hawks have played .500 ball to the tune of 7-7 since defeating Charlotte. Although Coach Martelli has been justifying playing four of his five starters for 34 minutes-plus a game by saying that they are t0o young to be tired, it looks like the Hawks are running on fumes. Charlotte pulls off the minor ‘upset’ and we will be left wondering just how good Ahmad Nivins would have been if he had a complete team around him. 49ERS 74, HAWKS 67

#7 Duquesne vs. #10 Massachusetts – The resurgent Dukes of Duquesne played Umass in late February in Amherst and walked away with a 17 point victory. Massachusetts has talented players in  Chris Lowe, Tony Gaffney and Ricky Harris but they haven’t fully absorbed Derek Kellogg’s system. The Dukes, on the other hand, have become a dangerous team in league play under third-year coach Ron Everhart. Gone are the days of Duquesne being an automatic ‘W’ as this squad is for real and could give Rhode Island some serious competition. The Dukes lost by two to the Rams on March 1 and would love nothing better than to end URI’s season. DUKES 83, MINUTEMEN 71

#6 Richmond vs. #11 St. Bonaventure – This is an intriguing match up as one of the Bonnies six A-10 victories came at the expense of the Spiders back in January. Coming into this game there are those that are calling Richmond a dark horse to win it all. I suppose beating the best team in the conference on your home floor can get people talking about you. The Spiders have one of the best young coaches in the game in Chris Mooney and two talented guards: David Gonzalvez and Kevin Anderson. The Bonnies have a tremendous talent of their own in the form of A-10 Rookie of the Year Andrew Nicholson. While I think that Richmond will win the game and go on to face Dayton on Thursday, St. Bonaventure may very well be a force in the Atlantic 10 next year. The Bonnies will return four of their five starters and all but one of their contributing bench players. Mark Schmidt should be commended for the job he is doing with a program that was once a laughingstock. SPIDERS 67, BONNIES 61

John Lamb can be reached at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

AP Photo  

March 7, 2009 | AP Press

NEW YORK — Tasheed Carr had 20 points and seven assists to lead Saint Joseph’s to a 71-54 victory over Fordham on Saturday, the Rams’ 10th straight loss.

Garrett Williamson added 11 points for the Hawks (16-14, 9-7 Atlantic-10), while Ahmad Nivins had seven points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots. Saint Joseph’s finished with a 43-28 rebound advantage.

Alberto Estwick had 16 points and Jio Fontan added 15 on 5-for-24 shooting for the Rams (3-25, 1-15).

The Hawks opened the second half with a 10-0 run that gave them a 47-18 lead with 17:42 to play. The lead reached 30 points when Carr’s two free throws with 15:42 to go made it 53-23.

AP Photo

March 5, 2009 by John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

PHILADELPHIA – Thursday night’s game has assuredly been circled on the calendar of many a Temple fan . Forget the fact that it was Senior Night for the Owls or that this game was essentially for  a  first-round bye in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

This was Temple and Saint Joe’s. For a myriad of reasons this rivalry has become the most heated and competitive rivalry in the Big 5 and is right up there with the clashes that Xavier and Dayton have yearly in the Atlantic 10.

Last year, Pat Calathes hit the game-winning three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left to steal a 68-67 victory at the Liacouas Center. This year, the Owls were looking for revenge on their home court.

Fittingly, Temple’s seniors led the way as the Owls (18-11, 10-5 A-10) clipped the Hawks (15-14, 8-7) 68-59.

Dionte Christmas led all scorers with 23 points. He had gone over a month without breaking the 20 point plateau. Temple coach Fran Dunphy stated after the game that Christmas let it be known that “he was not going to let [Temple] lose.”

“Today I told myself that, no matter what happened, I wasn’t going to let my team lose,” said Christmas. “One, we definitely needed to win this game and another, this was Senior Night – my last game here – and I didn’t want to go out the wrong way.”

Christmas was helped out by the contributions of Sergio Olmos and Semaj Inge. Olmos scored 14 point and, most importantly, played tough defense on Saint Joseph’s star Ahmad Nivins. Although he scored 17 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, the Hawks big man shot only 6-for-16 from the floor and found himself having to work for every inch down low against the Owls seven-footer.

“Serg didn’t get a whole lot of help, he was pretty much on [Nivins] by himself,” Dunphy said. “As good as he was offensively, and he was very good, I thought he was terrific defensively.”

Olmos understood that he had to bring his A-game to be successful in slowing down one of the A-10’s premier players.

“He’s a great player and you really have to be physical,” said Olmos, who has rebounded nicely since returning to the starting lineup. “When he wants he can get very deep position and he’s got plenty of moves down there. But I think I did a pretty good job and my teammates also helped me. I think it was a great team effort.”

Semaj Inge also added to his reputation for being a pain in the neck for the Hawks. He filled the stat sheet with a line to the tune of nine points, three assists, two blocks and four steals.

The Hawks were able to cut Temple’s lead to two points with just under 15 minutes left in the second half after a fast break dunk by Nivins. Whatever Dunphy told his players during the ensuing timeout seemed to resonate as the Owls broke the game open with an 18-6 run that was sparked by the three-point shooting of Craig Williams and Christmas.

Williams finished the game with 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds. His playing time had been scarce before tonight’s contest but Dunphy made it clear that he is an integral part of this team.

“[Williams] is critical because he adds such a different dimension to our team,” said Dunphy. “We need him. He had some personal issues that he dealt with for the Dayton game and he did not play very well or long against La Salle. He is an interesting player, a talented guy. He’s not a great athlete, he’s not going to get side to side real fast at any point and he’s not going to go up and dunk a lot of balls but he has great hands. When he catches the ball and rebounds the ball, it’s his.”

Juan Fernandez also had an impressive game for the Temple. The freshman point guard scored five points and dished out five assists to go along with four rebounds. He made two dynamic passes that drew plenty of “Oohs” from the crowd on back-to-back possessions early in the first half that led to easy layups for Williams and Inge respectively.

“[Fernandez is] a terrific basketball player. He got caught a few times on the defensive end tonight but he is a really good basketball player that knows what he is doing out there,” Dunphy stated. “I am hoping the next three and chance years will be spectacular years for him as well.”

It would not be a Big 5 game without at least one wacky stat. Only four of the eight Hawks who played tonight scored. The bench and starter Garrett Williamson shot a combined 0-for-12 from the floor. Needless to say, the Owls easily won the bench points battle 16-0.

For the game, the Hawks shot just 32 percent.

“We just played a Division I game and had four guys score,” said Hawks coach Phil Martelli when asked why his team has trouble scoring. “Some of it is skill set and some of it is a full out commitment to that way of playing. We had a number of layups that did not go in. Guys are trying they just didn’t make layups.”

Tasheed Carr led the Hawks with 22 points and five assists. Darrin Govens added 14 points and Idris Hilliard scored six.

The first 15 minutes of the game were controlled by the Saint Joseph’s as they led by as many as seven points. They seemed to have an answer for everything the Owls tried to do in the early going. It did not last for long as a Christmas three with 4:39 remaining broke a 21-21 tie and gave the Owls a lead that they never relinquished.

Saint Joe’s looked to establish themselves in the paint early and partly succeeded as Lavoy Allen picked up two quick fouls and watched most of the half from the bench. The Hawks, however, were only able to score four points in the paint to Temple’s 14.

Temple heads to Washinton D.C. on Saturday to take on the George Washington Colonials. If Duquesne is able to beat Dayton on the Flyers’ home court then Temple will move up the the three seed.

Saint Joe’s will travel to New York City to take on Fordham in a game that will go a long way in determining how the middle of the A-10 pack pans out going into the conference tournament.

POST GAME AUDIO:
Phil Martelli Post Game Press Conference
Fran Dunphy Press Conference
Dionte Christmas, Sergio Olmos and Semaj Inge Post Game Audio

John Lamb can be reached at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

March 1, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA – Ahmad Nivins scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds and Tasheed Carr added 17 points as Saint Joseph’s snapped a five-game losing streak with a 73-62 victory over St. Bonaventure on Sunday.

Nivins, playing in his last home game for the Hawks (14-14, 6-8 Atlantic 10), has scored in double figures in 40 straight games, and has recorded 19 double-doubles. He leads the A10 in scoring, rebounding and shooting percentage.

Chris Matthews had 15 points and Malcolm Eleby 14 for the Bonnies (14-14, 5-10 A10), who lost their 15th straight to Saint Joseph’s.

The Hawks never trailed in the game and led 52-42 with 7:29 remaining. The Bonnies rallied to within 57-52 on a layup by Andrew Nicholson with 3:36 to play, but Nivins hit a 6-footer, starting a 9-3 run, and the Bonnies never threatened again.

AP Photo

February 26, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA — Back on the road for the first time since its clunker of a loss at Charlotte, Derrick Brown noticed a change in Xavier’s attitude.

“We got our road nastiness back,” he said.

One thing that hasn’t changed for the Musketeers is having another Atlantic 10 title in sight.

Brown had 18 points and 10 rebounds and B.J Raymond scored 18 points to lead Xavier (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 AP) past skidding Saint Joseph’s 68-54 on Thursday night.

“We were just trying to get it back in time and I think we’re in the right direction,” Brown said.

The Musketeers (23-5, 11-3) led almost the entire game and pulled away from the mistake-prone Hawks over the last four minutes to strengthen their spot at the top of the A-10 standings.

La Salle’s upset over Temple (9-4) opens the door for Xavier to win its third straight regular-season conference title with two games left.

“It says a lot [of our players] and our program,” coach Sean Miller said.

Ahmad Nivins scored 24 points for the Hawks, who lost their fifth straight game. Saint Joseph’s (14-13, 7-6) played without point guard Tasheed Carr (13.0 ppg), who sat out because of a concussion suffered Tuesday in practice.

The Hawks are on their longest streak under coach Phil Martelli since they dropped nine straight in 1998-99.

“The flaws have been there all year long,” Martelli said.

The Musketeers appear to have put their stunning five-point loss at Charlotte behind them.

Miller laughed at Brown’s remark and explained there was a simple definition to playing “nasty.”

“What he means deeper into that, is just being ready,” Miller said. “Being the team that looks the same whether we play at home or on the road.”

Brown and Anderson found their touch in the second half to make up for some sloppy play that let the Hawks whittle a double-digit lead down to six.

Brown put away the Hawks with two huge dunks that shook the rim and silenced the Palestra. Brown, who went over the 1,000-point mark, helped give Xavier a 56-44 lead and it would go up to 20 with steady trips to the free-throw line.

Maybe Carr would have steadied the Hawks and cut down the careless possessions. When Raymond buried a 3-pointer with 11:25 left to give Xavier a 50-36 lead, the Hawks had more turnovers (13) than field goals (11).

The final numbers were just as ugly: 19 turnovers and 17-for-46 shooting from the field. Xavier grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, led by Brown’s five.

Still, the Hawks had a shot through the first 30 minutes.

Garrett Williamson and Darrin Govens scored consecutive baskets, only to watch that single-digit deficit go back to 10 on Brown’s fall-down jumper.

That was it for the Hawks.

“You either hit first, or you get the hell beat of you and we got the hell beat of us on the backboards,” Martelli said.

Saint Joseph’s bounced Xavier in last year’s A-10 tournament semifinals and will need another upset to return to the NCAA tournament.

The Hawks were in prime position to threaten for their second straight at-large bid and were even in the hunt the A-10 title, after a 7-0 January in which they outscored the opposition by an average of 10 points per game.

“We were winning in January, and when the situation came up and we had to make a winning play, we did,” Martelli said. “We haven’t made a winning play in a couple of weeks.”

That sizzling streak seems about as far as way as their early season trip to Maui. Saint Joseph’s went 2-7 in February and will need to double that win total at the conference tournament in Atlantic City, N.J., to have any shot at a bid.

The Hawks were fortunate to only trail by five at halftime. They were dreadful from every corner of the court and missed 12 of their first 15 shots.

They were in the game because of a sizable edge from the free-throw line (9-for-10 to Xavier’s 1-for-3).

February 22, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA — Chris Lowe hit two free throws with two seconds remaining, and Tony Gaffney had 17 points and 10 rebounds, as Massachusetts nipped Saint Joseph’s 70-69 on Sunday.

Lowe scored 13 points and added seven assists to become the school’s all-time leader with 640, passing Carl Smith. Ricky Harris contributed 11 points for the Minutemen (10-15, 5-7 Atlantic 10), who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Tasheed Carr connected on a pair of free throws to give the Hawks a 69-68 lead with 6.4 seconds left.

Lowe took control of the ball at halfcourt, drove to the basket and was fouled by Ahmad Nivins.

Nivins had 21 points and 11 rebounds, his 18th double-double, Idris Hilliard added 12 points and 11 rebounds, Carr contributed 12 points and Garrett Williamson had 10 for Saint Joseph’s (14-12, 7-5).

The Hawks have dropped four in a row for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

Saint Joseph’s was 0-for-7 from 3-point territory, snapping a streak of 495 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer made. The streak began at the start of the 1993-94 season.

The last time the Hawks went without a 3-pointer came in a 56-34 loss at Southwest Missouri State in the first round of the NIT Tournament on March 18, 1993.

February 19, 2009 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS, MO — Kwamain Mitchell hit a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points to lead Saint Louis over Saint Joseph’s 73-71 on Wednesday night.

Kevin Lisch added 15 for points the Billikens (16-10, 7-5 Atlantic 10), who won for the fifth time in six games and sent Saint Joseph’s (14-11, 7-4) to a third straight loss.

The Hawks’ Ahmad Nivins recorded a conference-leading 17th double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds, despite being held scoreless for the final 9:56 of the game.

Saint Louis used a 7-2 run early in the second half to take the lead for good at 53-48.

Mitchell’s final 3-pointer put the Billikens up 68-64 with 1:10 left.

A 3-pointer by Garrett Williamson brought the Hawks within 72-71 with 2.3 seconds remaining, but Lisch sank a free throw and Nivins’ desperation shot from 30 feet at the buzzer fell short.

Barry Eberhardt added 14 points and Willie Reed came off the bench to score 11 for Saint Louis.

February 14, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Rodney Green scored 20 points and Kimmani Barrett added 20 as La Salle upset city rival St. Joseph’s 75-68 Saturday.

Jerrell Williams had 12 points and Ruben Guillandeaux added 11 points and 8 assists for La Salle (14-10, 5-5 Atlantic 10), while Darrin Govens had 21 points and Ahmad Nivins 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Hawks (14-10, 7-3).

Nivins, whose 20 points per game leads the conference in scoring, was held to only three shot attempts in the game.

La Salle never trailed in the second half, and twice led by 10 points before the Hawks closed to 57-53 with 4:52 left. The Explorers then went on a 10-3 run, capped by a three-point play by Guillandeaux at the 1:27 mark, which helped seal the win.

The Hawks jumped out to an early 20-8 advantage, but La Salle responded with a 17-2 run helped by two treys by Green to lead 25-20. La Salle led 35-30 at the half, heading off 40 shots while making 15.

St. Joseph’s went 7 for 18 and committed 12 turnovers.