The St. Joseph’s men’s basketball team has been in this situation multiple times before. The Hawks had double-digit leads in conference play before fumbling them away with poor shooting and losing.
For a few minutes there against Loyola (Ill.), on Saturday at Hagan Arena, it felt like déjà vu.
The Hawks saw their 17-point lead dwindle to four with 10 minutes, 53 seconds left in the second half. But they then took it into second gear, and surged to a 75-61 win.
The win placed St. Joe’s (17-10, 9-5 Atlantic 10) in a tie for third place in the conference, with four games left in the regular season.
“This is kind of our DNA right now,” said coach Steve Donahue. “We struggle sometimes on the offensive end, not from an execution point, but just the ability to be consistent with our shot making. Then we get better at that … and then we hang our hat on defense.”
St. Joe’s Jaiden Glover-Toscano (11) attempts a layup during the first half of Saturday’s game against Loyola-Chicago.
Statistical leaders
St. Joe’s dominated the rebounding battle in the second half with 20 boards compared to just 10 from Loyola. The Hawks shot 44.8% from the field and were led by guards Jaiden Glover-Toscano and Dasear Haskins with 23 points apiece, a career-high for Haskins.
Guard Derek Simpson had 11 points and 10 assists.
Deywilk Tavarez and Kayde Dotson both finished with 14 points for the Ramblers (6-22, 2-13), who shot just 36.8% from the field.
St. Joe’s Justice Ajogbor (center) goes up for a slam in Saturday’s win over Loyola-Chicago.
What we saw
The Hawks bombarded Loyola with their defense. The Ramblers missed their first nine shots before guard Nicolus Anderson finally got the team’s first bucket 7:30 into the game.
The Hawks alternated between press and man defense to stifle Loyola’s shooting, which found the Ramblers shooting just 27.6% in the first half and going 0-for-10 from three.
However, the Hawks’ offense took a while to click as well. They made 37.9% of their shots in the half behind Glover-Toscano and Haskins, who led the charge with seven points each in the half.
But there are inconsistencies, as Donahue was quick to point out.
“We’re just not 40 minutes [of] consistent offense,” he said. “There’s a lot of inexperience.”
Game-changing play
Just more than two minutes had gone by in the second half and the Hawks were charging with a 17-point lead. Then, Loyola started chipping away, finding shots, as its three-point shooting returned and dwindling St. Joseph’s lead to just four.
Enter Glover-Toscano and Haskins.
St. Joe’s Derek Simpson (0) shooting a three-pointer during the first half of Saturday’s game against Loyola.
Glover-Toscano drilled a three and Simpson found Haskins for an alley-oop to send Hagan Arena into a frenzy. Then both got steals, leading to a dunk and a behind-the-back layup to push the lead up to as much as 14.
“I was thinking [about] what I was going to do, but I just wanted to get the bucket,” Haskins said.
Up next
St. Joe’s will host George Mason (21-6, 9-5) on Wednesday, (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Through 20 minutes on Wednesday night at Hagan Arena, St. Joseph’s was in a defensive battle with Duquesne. The Hawks jumped out to a nine-point lead in the game’s first 2½ minutes, but the Dukes’ defense clamped down. By the 8-minute, 3-second mark of the second quarter, that lead was one.
The Hawks recovered, and behind strong free throw shooting and an 11-2 run, they held a eight-point halftime lead. St. Joe’s pushed its lead into double figures early in the third quarter and never looked back in a 61-46 win.
“I’m really pleased with the grit and determination that our team came out with today,” Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said. “I thought the beginning of the first and third quarters really set the tone, and it starts with our defense.”
St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin said her team showed “grit and determination” against Duquesne on Wednesday.
St. Joe’s (18-8, 9-6 Atlantic 10) is riding a three-game winning streak and still competing for a double bye in the A-10 tournament. With three games left in the regular season, the Hawks are tied with Davidson for fourth place, which is the last spot for a double bye.
Statistical leaders
Guard Gabby Casey guided the Hawks with 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting along with nine rebounds. Forward Faith Stinson also had a strong performance with 13 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. She was key a factor on defense against the Dukes’ taller frontcourt.
“I really just took what we have been working on in practice, like slowing down and assessing what the defense is giving me,” Stinson said. “Then, using my multiple post moves to get around the defender and score from the easiest angle.”
Faith Stinson finished with 13 points and was a key factor on defense Wednesday night.
The Hawks weren’t efficient — they were 20-for-54 from the field — but made 7 of 18 three-point attempts. Their defense stepped up and held Duquesne (9-17, 2-13) to 31% from the field and forced 13 turnovers. Guard Mackenzie Blackford led the Dukes with 16 points.
Coasting in the second half
St. Joe’s made four of its first five shots in its game-opening 9-0 run. But offense became hard to come by after that, opening the door for the Dukes. St. Joe’s struggled to get open looks went more than six minutes without a point, which allowed Duquesne to take a 16-15 lead at the 8:03 mark of the second quarter.
The Hawks regained control, and Casey scored seven points in the 11-2 run to close the half. St. Joe’s entered the locker room with a 29-21 advantage, extended its lead to 37-27 midway through the third quarter, and never allowed Duquesne back within single digits, largely thanks to sharp free-throw shooting an timely threes.
Gabby Casey throws the ball towards the net. St. Joe’s made 7 of 18 three-pointers on Wednesday.
“Nobody really panics,” Griffin said. “I think they trust each other. They trust what we’re doing as a team, and they know that if we just persevere and if we are relentless about what we’re doing on both ends of the floor and stay connected, we know that we’re going to come out of those slumps a little bit.”
Strong free-throw shooting
The teams had nearly identical shooting splits from the field and at the three-point line in the first half, but the Hawks held a halftime advantage because they shot 7-for-8 on free throws, while the Dukes did not make a free throw in the first 20 minutes. Overall, St. Joe’s went 14-for-16 on free throws and Duquesne was 3-for-5.
Aleah Snead gets ready to shoot a free throw against Duquesne on Wednesday.
“When you’re talking about a low-scoring game and the shooting percentage wasn’t great, you have to find different ways to score,” Griffin said. “Getting to the free-throw line and making free throws, we talked about it all year, layups and free throws.”
Up next
St. Joe’s will visit St. Louis (11-17, 5-10 A-10) on Saturday (3 p.m., ESPN+).
Every once in a while, Kevin Willard loves when the shot clock expires before a Villanova shot attempt.
There really is a time and place for everything.
“Everyone will say, ‘You’re nuts,’” Willard said Tuesday night after Villanova rallied late to beat Marquette. “It takes 30 seconds; it sets up our defense. The worst thing you can do is come down and jack up a shot with 2 seconds on the shot clock, long rebound, your defense isn’t set. I’d rather have a shot-clock violation, set my defense up, have them work for 25 seconds, and then take 30 seconds and the game’s over.”
Villanova has taken its share of violations in the second half of victories this season. There were two during a 12-point win over Seton Hall on Feb. 4 while the Wildcats held leads of 14 and 12 inside of five minutes. They took one vs. Providence up by 19 points with four minutes left. They took one vs. Butler while ahead by 12 with 2½ minutes to go. And they had three during their Big East opener on Dec. 23, when they built a big lead over Seton Hall on the road and won by eight.
To be clear, there were no such violations during Tuesday’s win. So how did we get to this topic? Willard was asked after the game about tempo and whether he thought the team could play a little faster. The Wildcats are ranked 337th by KenPom’s adjusted tempo metric and 296th in average possessions per game (68.4).
Willard, who has the Wildcats at 19-5 overall and 10-3 in the Big East entering Saturday’s game at Creighton, is a passionate talker of tempo. He went on a mini rant about the subject in April at his introductory news conference at Villanova. He focuses on defensive tempo, he explained then, the amount of time it takes for an opponent to get off a shot. On the offensive side, the difference between shot speed from top to bottom is only a matter of a few seconds, he said.
“You know the difference between the 20th fastest team and us?” Willard asked Tuesday. “1.6 seconds.”
By average number of possessions, the difference between Villanova at 297th and the 100th-ranked team (Miami) is just four possessions.
Freshman point guard Acaden Lewis is charged with setting Villanova’s tempo on offense.
“I have a young team, and when we get up I’m going to control the ball and take the air out of the ball,” Willard said. “That’s one of the reasons why our tempo is so low is if you watch any time we’ve gotten up more than 12, I’ve taken the air out of the ball and we have run the clock down. One of the easiest ways to lose leads is to take quick shots.
“I think we play pretty fast. It’s not like he walks the ball up,” Willard said, pointing to freshman point guard Acaden Lewis. “It’s not like we’re ever walking the ball up. It’s 1.6 seconds. Everyone gets stuck on that tempo s—.”
Less than a month of regular-season basketball remains, so it feels like a good time to round up who could win Big 5 awards.
Let’s start with the coaches. The easy answer here is Villanova sweeping. Willard is on his way to stopping the three-year NCAA drought on the men’s side. Denise Dillon has her fifth 20-win season in six years as Wildcats coach. But those are the obvious answers partially because they coach teams that entered the season with at-large NCAA Tournament chances.
But how about Mountain MacGillivray, the La Salle women’s coach? The Explorers went 4-15 in the Atlantic 10 last season. They’ve nearly doubled that total so far in 2025-26 and still have five games left. And what about Adam Fisher? The Temple men’s coach had to rebuild another roster in the offseason and has the Owls at 7-4 in the American Conference and in the mix. Or Steve Donahue, who stepped into a weird situation at St. Joseph’s, got off to a slow start, and has the Hawks in fourth place in the A-10?
La Salle’s Ashleigh Connor is guarded by St. Joseph’s Rhian Stokes on Jan. 28.
As for player of the year on the men’s side, Villanova’s Tyler Perkins and Lewis have good arguments, as do Penn’s Ethan Roberts, Derek Simpson of St. Joe’s, and Temple’s Derrian Ford. On the women’s side, it might be Villanova sophomore Jasmine Bascoe’s award to lose. But La Salle’s Ashleigh Connor is having a great season, as is Drexel’s Amaris Baker and Gabby Casey of St. Joe’s.
The Villanova women won by 40 Wednesday night at Xavier and Bascoe reached the 1,000-point plateau in less than two full seasons. The Wildcats are rolling. They’re 13-3 in the Big East and firmly in second place, two games clear of Seton Hall in the loss column.
But they’re also firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble. ESPN’s latest bracketology had the Wildcats as a No. 10 seed and in the “last four byes” group. The projected field capped just six spots behind them.
Villanova coach Denise Dillon with her star guard, Jasmine Bascoe.
Like the men, the women are in Omaha, Neb., this weekend. They play a Creighton team on Sunday that they already beat by 10 at home. It’s not a great time to have a slip-up, because after that it’s the annual home game vs. No. 1 UConn, which is undefeated and already beat Villanova by 49. Just two games are on the schedule after that: a home game vs. fourth-place Marquette and a road showdown at Seton Hall. Then comes the conference tournament.
Since we last took stock of the Big 5 men’s teams, a few more got on the positive side of .500 in league play, which brings a better possibility of running the table come conference tournament time.
What’s Torvik’s math — which is based on thousands of simulations — for the rest of the pack?
Penn: 10.1%
Drexel: 3%
Temple: 2.9%
St. Joe’s: 2.6%
La Salle: 0.1%
The Big 5’s streak of no men’s teams looks like it’s ending. Just don’t count on Villanova having any company at the dance.
Jill Bodensteiner is stepping down from her post as St. Joseph’s athletic director, according to an announcement from the university on Thursday.
Bodensteiner is set to become the next commissioner of the Horizon League. Her last day at St. Joe’s will be April 15.
Eric Laudano, St. Joe’s executive senior associate athletics director, will serve as interim athletic director while a search is conducted, the school said in a release.
An Indiana native, Bodensteiner will take over a league headquartered in Indianapolis. She has been the AD on Hawk Hill since June 2018.
St. Joe's athletic director Jill Bodensteiner is leaving the school for another opportunity, according to a source.
“Jill is a national leader in intercollegiate athletics,” St. Joe’s president Cheryl A. McConnell said in a statement. “We are profoundly grateful for her vision, dedication and service to the Hawks. She leaves our athletics program strong and well-positioned for continued success. We wish her the best on her return home to Indiana and her role with the Horizon League.”
Bodensteiner’s tenure at St. Joe’s started with a bang. She fired longtime men’s basketball coach Phil Martelli less than a year after taking over as athletic director. She replaced Martelli with Billy Lange, whose six-year run ended in the fall when he abruptly left the program for an assistant’s role with the New York Knicks. Lange posted an 81-104 record with the Hawks.
Though the men’s program has failed to get back to prominence in the new era of college basketball, St. Joe’s has had successful runs in non-revenue sports like field hockey, which played in the national championship game in 2024; men’s and women’s lacrosse, which made inaugural NCAA Tournament appearances; and baseball, which won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title in 2023.
St. Joseph led Fordham by 15 points on Tuesday night at Hagan Arena. After a crushing loss to George Mason three days earlier, the Hawks were on the verge of forcing a blowout against a team that had won just three Atlantic 10 games entering the contest.
Then the Rams began mounting a comeback and the Hawks had no chance to stop it. After knocking down 50% of its shots in the first half, St. Joe’s went mute as it made 7 of 24 shots (29.17%) in the second. Guard Austin Williford, who finished with a career-high 19 points, scoring 17 in the first 20 minutes, did not get another bucket until four minutes remained in the game.
Guard Jaiden Glover-Toscano scored all of his 10 points in the first half. The stagnant offense resulted in a 68-64 loss.
“Obviously the second half was not one of our better efforts offensively,” coach Steve Donahue said. “I thought we competed at a high level. Guarding was very physical, but we did not do a good job handling that in the second half, and allowed their physicality to just take us out of our rhythm.”
However, St. Joe’s (15-10, 7-5 A-10), which is now riding a two-game skid, is still in contention for a coveted top-four seed to earn a double bye in the conference tournament next month.
Game-changing moment
St. Joe’s attacked Fordham’s zone with ease for the first 20 minutes of play. Glover-Toscano scored 10 points in the first 14 minutes.
Then Williford, who has become a regular in the starting lineup, made a layup and nailed three consecutive three-pointers. His play made up for scoring leader Derek Simpson not scoring a bucket in the first half.
“I think he’s got a great future ahead of him,” Donahue said. “Even he’ll say the second half wasn’t his best, it wasn’t our best, and it got us tonight.”
St. Joe’s coach Steve Donahue says his team was making “uncharacteristic” errors in Tuesday’s loss to Fordham.
St. Joe’s success ended after Fordham (13-12, 4-8) switched up its defenses in the second half. The Rams made it difficult for the Hawks to run their offense. They ended the second half with nearly as many turnovers (six) as field goals (seven).
“That’s a sign we’re not in rhythm or there’s no synergy in the offense.” Donahue said. “When you take one with 10 or 12 [seconds] left there, you’re kind of open. We’ve done that to ourselves a few times this year. My job is to get us out of this.”
The A-10 race
St. Joe’s dropped its second straight game in a similar fashion. The Hawks allowed George Mason to snag a win after holding a second half lead on Saturday. In that loss, they shot 29.03%, despite grabbing 20 offensive rebounds.
After winning seven of eight before Saturday’s loss, St. Joe’s looked poised to earn a fourth-place finish, which is the final spot for a double bye in the A-10 tournament.
Now, Davidson, Duquesne, and Dayton all trail St. Joe’s by a game in the standings. The Flyers and Wildcats face another on Sunday, while Duquesne plays on Saturday. There’s a chance there could be a three-way tie for fourth place by the end of this weekend.
With six games remaining, Donahue is looking to get St. Joe’s back to how his team was playing in January.
“This is A to B. This is the stuff we talked about. Now we’ve got to live it,” Donahue said. “We were uncharacteristic [on Tuesday] in some ways. In particular, on the offensive end. For the next eight days, you have to do a great job.”
Up next
The Hawks will visit St. Bonaventure (14-10, 3-8) on Feb. 18 (7 p.m., ESPN+).
That how much time remained to find St. Joseph’s knocking off a 20-win George Mason team, extending its winning streak to five games, and being one step closer to earning a coveted double bye in next month’s Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Instead, in those remaining minutes against the Patriots, the Hawks went silent, highlighted by a nearly five-minute stretch of unsuccessful field goal attempts, ending up on the losing end of a 60-52 score in Fairfax, Va.
During that same stretch, George Mason (21-3, 9-2 A-10) scored six points before a three-pointer late from Hawks guard Austin Williford.
Guard Jaiden Glover-Toscano scored 14 points to lead the way for St. Joe’s (15-9, 7-4), but all of them came in the first half. Derek Simpson (13 points) and Williford (11) stepped up in his place in the second half. The Hawks also grabbed 44 rebounds compared to 35 by George Mason.
St. Joe’s shot just 31% while George Mason knocked down 41.1% of its shots from the floor. Guard Jahari Long led the way with 20 for the Patriots and also dished out three assists.
Hawks guard Derek Simpson, seen here in action earlier this season, scored 13 points in St. Joe’s road loss to George Mason.
What we saw
Points were scarce for both teams to begin the game. The Hawks suffered shooting lapses, with just 32.4% of their first-half shots falling. However, the defense matched the Patriots, holding them to 11-for-29 shooting in the first 20 minutes to keep the score tight.
Glover-Toscano was a key to get St. Joe’s moving with three consecutive triples to give the visitors a 18-13 lead. The guards’ efforts helped St. Joe’s snatch momentum as George Mason went on a two-minute drought before an 8-0 run gave the Patriots life.
What allowed St. Joe’s to survive its inconsistent offense was its defense, specifically an ability to grab rebounds. The Hawks were relentless on the glass with 20 of their offensive rebounds leading to 22 second-chance points. It was 29-29 at the half.
Ajogbor ties Boo Williams for 8th on the SJU all-time blocks list on one end of the floor leading to the JGT three on the other end!
The lack of offensive production continued for both teams once the second half started. A quick 7-2 run for St. Joe’s gave the Hawks a five-point lead. The rebounding efforts continued for the Hawks with seven offensive boards, but the Patriots defense continued to limit any chances for separation.
St. Joseph’s trailed Dayton by as many as 11 points early in the fourth quarter after the Flyers shot 90% from the field in the third. But the Hawks didn’t fold, trimming the deficit and setting up a late push.
Guards Gabby Casey and Jill Jekot pulled the Hawks within three points with four minutes to play, but Dayton answered back. Casey’s basket made it a two-point game with 25 seconds left, but St. Joe’s couldn’t get any closer.
Dayton (13-11, 6-7 Atlantic 10) came up with a stop and made timely free throws in the final seconds to beat St. Joe’s (15-8, 6-6), 75-73, and hand the Hawks their second straight loss.
St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin yells to her team against Dayton on Saturday.
“I thought our defense really failed us today,” said St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin. “It’s no discredit to Dayton, I thought they came in and shot the ball really well. We put ourselves in a position where we gave up way too many threes to start the game and we were playing catch-up again. That’s kind of been our thing the last couple of games in our losses.”
Statistical leaders
Casey guided the Hawks with 29 points on 12-for-20 shooting, with 13 coming in the final 10 minutes. Forward Faith Stinson added 11 points.
Guards Nicole Stephens and Jayda Johnson led Dayton with 18 and 15 points, respectively. The Flyers’ offense shot 54.9% from the field and went 9-for-19 from deep.
What we saw
Dayton built an 18-12 lead near the end of the first quarter, but the Hawks pulled within one point at the start of the second. The Flyers held the lead for nearly the entire second half before St. Joe’s finally pulled even at 31 with a layup from Casey.
Dayton took a 35-33 lead at the half after a jumper in the final seconds from guard Nayo Lear.
The Flyers opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run to take a 45-35 lead before the Hawks trimmed the deficit to three.
Dayton pushed its lead to 11 after two straight three-pointers and opened the third quarter by hitting its first six shots, taking a comfortable nine-point lead into the fourth.
St. Joe’s made it a game again in the final five minutes behind six points from Casey, pulling within three several times before Dayton answered each push.
“We showed a lot of resolve today. I think we competed and were right there at the end,” Griffin said. “But we’ve proven that we have to play from ahead. It’s tough for us to play from behind and we haven’t been overly successful in that area.”
Clutch play
With about two minutes left, St. Joe’s trailed, 69-66, and had momentum after holding a 10-3 edge on the offensive glass through three quarters. But Dayton came up with two key offensive rebounds late, including a putback by Flyers center Fatima Ibrahim off a Stephens miss that kept the Hawks from tying.
St. Joe’s guard Gabby Casey gets her shot attempt blocked by Dayton center Fatima Ibrahim and forward Maliyah Johnson on Saturday.
On the Flyers’ next possession, Stephens missed a three-pointer, but Ibrahim was there for the putback and the free throw to make it a two-possession game again. Her two offensive rebounds gave Dayton three second-chance points in the Flyers’ two-point win.
“You look at it and they only had five offensive rebounds and we won the second chance points battle, but they got the timely ones,” Griffin said. “I think that was really a deal breaker.”
Up next
The Hawks will host George Washington (13-11, 5-6) on Wednesday (11 a.m., ESPN+).
When Taylor Wray made the move from coaching St. Joseph’s men’s lacrosse team to Penn’s squad this past summer, he got to bring in a whole new staff.
Longtime Hawks assistant Scott Meehan had the option to follow, but he decided to throw his name in the candidate pool to be the next Hawks head coach.
“Jill Bodensteiner our [athletic director] basically called me up after she heard from Coach Wray that he was going to be taking the UPenn job,” Meehan said. “I was very fortunate because I was definitely preparing for an interview process. Other candidates are coming in, and [I] have to put my best foot forward in the interview process. But fortunately, [I] didn’t have to go through that.”
A few hours after Wray’s announced departure, Meehan was promoted to take over on Hawk Hill. He spent the next 30 minutes talking about the role with Charles Giunta, a former St. Joe’s player Meehan brought on as associate head coach.
Now, with the season opener set for Saturday at Syracuse (noon, ACC Network Extra), Meehan is feeling more “comfortable” in his role and hopes to cultivate a winning culture.
“Our goals are generally pretty simple,” Meehan said. “We want to qualify for the Atlantic 10 tournament every year — that gives us a shot to win an A-10 championship. With an A-10 championship, you get a berth to the NCAA Tournament. … One wants to be able to play late into May. You want to have a chance at it all.”
Meehan played attack, at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. As a senior in 2012, he led the team in points (53), assists (23), and was second on the team in goals (30).
When his playing career ended, Meehan says he wanted to combine his love for lacrosse with teaching.
“I think education has always kind of been in my blood,” said Meehan, whose parents are retired teachers. “It just kind of felt right to get into coaching. The game of lacrosse, and team sports in general, has done a lot for me over my lifespan, and I learned a lot in the classroom with sports, and [I] definitely wasn’t ready to be done with athletics.”
He landed at Franklin & Marshall College for three years and oversaw the Diplomats’ offense and picking the brain of head coach Todd Cavallaro, who became a mentor.
After three other coaching stops, Meehan arrived on Hawk Hill in 2019 as an offensive coordinator.
During his first year, Meehan met Giunta, who was the team’s graduate assistant. They lived together for a few months in Manayunk and became close friends.
Giunta left for Fairfield after the 2019 season. He spent six seasons there, until he got that call from Meehan.
“As soon as I got that phone call, it took me a couple of days to really think it over, but it was an easy decision to come back and to join him,” Giunta said. “He’s an awesome friend of mine. I think he’s a great coach.”
Meehan also added Jack Tortolani to his staff as an assistant. Tortolani played five years at Denver, where he made the Final Four in 2024. He initially was hired before Wray left, but Meehan made it one of his first orders of business to officially bring Tortolani aboard.
Jared McMahon, who played at Mount St. Mary’s and spent last year on Michigan’s staff, rounded out Meehan’s staff.
St. Joe’s is two years removed from an NCAA Tournament appearance, after winning the A-10 tournament championship in 2024. Last season, the Hawks finished 9-6 and were eliminated in the first round of the conference tournament by High Point.
“He was here before; he’s not coming in and implementing entirely new systems,” said senior defenseman Liam Quinn, “and trying to reinvent the wheel and create a new team culture. I think Coach Meehan knows exactly what makes our program go and what separates us from other people.”
Each Friday, Inquirer photo editors pick the best Philly sports images from the last seven days. This week, we’re reaching all the way to last Friday night, when Unrivaled took over South Philly and brought a record crowd to Xfinity Mobile Arena. But that’s not all the basketball — we’ve also got the Sixers, some local college action, and a high school hoops showdown between two defending state champs, Father Judge (Class 6A) and Neumann Goretti (5A).
St. Joe’s forward Anthony Finkley (left) reacts after teammate Jaiden Glover-Toscano hits a three during the second half against George Washington. The Hawks’ 76-73 win was their fourth straight.Philly native Ronald Moore (center) was once an NCAA Tournament hero at Siena and now serves as an assistant coach for the Penn Quakers.Neumann Goretti’s Marquis Newson gets up a shot against Father Judge in the first quarter of the Saints’ 71-66 win over the Crusaders in South Philadelphia on Sunday.Neumann Goretti’s Kody Colson passes the ball past Father Judge’s Khory Copeland (4) and Rezon Harris. Unrivaled set a record for attendance at a regular season women’s basketball game during the three-on-three league’s stop in Philly on Friday night.Cameron Brink of the Breeze leaps past Broomall native Natasha Cloud of the Phantoms. Cloud celebrated her professional hoops homecoming on Friday.Friday’s Unrivaled doubleheader drew more than 21,000 fans and was sold out well in advance.Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey (right) said he was surprised to hear that teammate Jared McCain was traded this week. Before the deadline, center Joel Embiid (left) said he had hoped the team would stay intact. Sixers forward Dominick Barlow drives past New Orleans Pelicans center Yves Missi.Flyers forward Owen Tippett beats Capitals goalie Clay Stevenson to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the first period of Tuesday’s win over Washington.Flyers goalkeeper Samuel Ersson (left) talks with Samuel Hancock, who plays goalie for his youth league team, at the Flyers Charities Carnival on Sunday.Shawn Paul, 3, receives a little help from his dad, Zach, as they try one of the games at the Flyers Charities Carnival.The Flyers Charities Carnival featured a Ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, and other carnival favorites. Fans could also interact with players, coaches, and alumni.The Phillie Phanatic helps load cases of supplies onto the team truck before it leaves for spring training in Clearwater, Fla. Yes, he packed his hot dog launcher.Sunday’s boys’ basketball game between Neumann Goretti and Father Judge was sold out.
St. Joseph coach Steve Donahue saw his team’s resilience tested in the Hawks’ 76-73 win over George Washington on Wednesday night.
“We talk about, ‘A to B,’ and that’s all good and all,” Donahue said. “But when you get punched in the face, you’re up 14 in the first half and down five in the second half, it really tests you.”
It’s true. St. Joe’s (15-8, 7-3 Atlantic 10) saw its double-digit first-half lead dwindle. However, the Hawks fought back to retake the lead — and extend their winning streak to four games — as George Washington (13-10, 4-6) went cold down the stretch.
Guard Jaiden Glover-Toscano led St. Joe’s with 23 points and guard Derek Simpson had 17 points and five assists. Guard Dasear Haskins added 14 points, shooting 49.1% from the field. They also got an assist from guard Austin Williford, who tacked on eight points, seven rebounds, and had a key steal at the end of the game.
More importantly, St. Joe’s limited George Washington’s offense, who averages 84.4 points per game, to shot 35.8% from the field.
What we saw
The opening minutes had the markings of a blowout written all over it.
The Hawks embarked on an 8-0 run that gave them a 19-10 lead, which they eventually turned into a 14-point advantage. Glover-Toscano made back-to-back three-pointers, while the the offense scored most of its points in the paint.
Then came a George Washington surge. Playing without leading scorer and rebounder Rafael Castro didn’t seem to matter to the Revolutionaries, as they cut their lead to 35-30 at halftime and eventually took a five-point edge in the second half.
St. Joe’s Dasear Haskins finished with 14 points against George Washington on Wednesday.
Then the old St. Joe’s returned.
Simpson found his rhythm and Glover-Toscano poured in points, which sparked a 15-3 run in the second. Momentum swung right back to St. Joe’s as Hagan Arena erupted, and the Hawks never let up.
“I feel like I had an A to B game today,” Glover-Toscano said. “First half, I was struggling. I was playing sloppy basketball early on, and then I kind of picked it up.”
Game-changing play
Despite pushing the lead to nine, George Washington still inched back in the waning moments. Suddenly, the Revolutionaries were in striking distance, trailing by one when Simpson missed a jumper and guard Jean Aranguren grabbed the rebound.
However, there was one problem — his foot was out of bounds.
St. Joe’s Khaafiq Myers passes the ball during the second half on Wednesday.
The Hawks got the ball back again. This time Simpson attempted a three-pointer and missed, but was fouled. He knocked down all three foul shots, pushing the lead to four with 20 seconds left, effectively ending the hope of a comeback.
Up next …
The Hawks visit George Mason (20-3, 8-2) at EagleBank Arena on Saturday(4 p.m., ESPN+).
