PHILADELPHIA (09/18/02) - Saint Joseph's University opens its 2002-03 men's basketball season with its first in-season meeting against Boston College since January 4, 1978 and then travels to Gonzaga to end the 2002 year with a New Year's Eve game in Spokane, Wash. The two Jesuit powers highlight a challenging slate for head coach Phil Martelli's Hawks. "I think the schedule is consistent with our efforts to prepare for the Atlantic 10," states Martelli, who has compiled a 126-90 record in his seven seasons at the SJU helm. " There are challenging road games at Boston College, Pacific and Gonzaga. There are nationally-ranked teams that we will play like Villanova and Penn in preparation for the A-10." Following Boston College on November 23, SJU will travel to another Jesuit school, Canisius (Nov. 26) before opening its home season with games against Old Dominion (Dec. 1) and Boston University (Dec. 5). A date with Drexel at the Palestra, part of the Philadelphia Big Five Classic, is then followed by a Fieldhouse date with Delaware (Dec. 9) and DePaul (Dec. 21) at the Palestra. Then the Hawks close out 2002 with a western swing, taking on Pacific (Dec. 28) in a rematch of a 1997 first round NCAA Tournament game won by the Hawks, and Gonzaga. A Big Five contest against Pennsylvania at the Palestra rounds out the Hawks' non-conference schedule. Of the 28 games, 12 will come against teams that competed in postseason play last year. Boston College, Boston University, Gonzaga, Pennsylvania and Xavier all advanced to the 2002 NCAA Tournament while Dayton, Richmond, St. Bonaventure (twice), Temple (twice) and Villanova all earned bids to the 2002 NIT. The Hawks will play at the historic Palestra, its secondary home, six times this year, serving as the home team in four of those contests. It is the most Palestra dates for SJU since the 1988-89 season, when SJU played nine games in the building. The Atlantic 10 Conference schedule has SJU again playing East Division teams Fordham, Massachusetts, St. Bonaventure and Temple home and away. The Hawks will travel to West Division foes Dayton, George Washington and La Salle while hosting Xavier, Richmond and Duquesne.