PHILADELPHIA (02/19/02) - Without their leading scorer, and with their backs against the proverbial wall, the Saint Joseph's Hawks finally came alive, and pounded out a hard-fought 72-67 win over the visiting Minutemen of Massachusetts on Tuesday evening at the Fieldhouse. SJU, which upped its record to 16-9 overall, and 10-3 in the league, played without its star and on-court leader Marvin O'Connor. The 6-4 senior guard came down with a bad case of food poisoning overnight and spent most of the day at the hospital. He is expected to be back for the team's next game. The Hawks did not give former Villanova coach Steve Lappas, in his first year at UMass, a warm reception in his first game on the sidelines at the Fieldhouse. SJU jumped out early on the Minutemen, taking a 16-3 lead as all five starters scored in the game's opening five minutes. A 15-6 run later in the half would cut the margin to three, 28-25, but SJU would never trail in this contest. SJU controlled the game by winning the battle of the boards. The Hawks outrebounded the Minutemen, 40-22, with senior Bill Phillips leading the way. The 6-10 captain stepped up his game when his teammates needed him most, posting his fourth double-double of the season - 19 points and 12 rebounds. Phillips also shook off his uncharacteristic 0-of-6 from the line against Xavier with a strong 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Damian Reid, who was honored in a pre-game ceremony for scoring his 1000th point (at Fordham), tallied 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. Even freshman Delonte West got into the act. In his first collegiate start, West scored seven points, but also grabbed four boards, all on the offensive end, as SJU owned every loose ball in the game. Na'im Crenshaw also picked up his game in O'Connor's absence. The 6-5 southpaw posted 16 points and hit 4-of-6 from three-point range. In the process, he passed O'Connor for the team lead (he now has a career-high 50), while moving into sixth place on the all-time SJU list with 173 made. He needs just three more to move ahead of Brian Leahy (174) and Terrell Myers (175) for fourth place. And let's not forget about Jameer Nelson. The SJU floor leader turned in another solid performance, tallying 11 points while dishing seven assists. The Hawks also turned the ball over a season low seven times. Still with all of that, SJU could not get any separation from UMass (10-14, 4-9). The Minutemen stayed with the Hawks the entire second half, forging a tie at 58 with 4:54 to play. The Hawks then ran off nine straight points to pull away as the team, coming off one of its worst free throw shooting performance (7-22, 31.8%) in recent memory, hit 10-of-12 down the stretch to seal the victory. A Kyle Wilson three-pointer at the buzzer cut the final margin to five points, marking the first time SJU had won a game this year when the margin was five or less (now 1-5). Senior guard Shannon Crooks, who hit 5-of-6 three-pointers, led all scorers with 21 for UMass. The Hawks will play their last regular season game at the Fieldhouse on Saturday against Dayton (2:00 p.m./ESPN/WPEN 950 AM). The team's four seniors, Crenshaw, O'Connor, Phillips and Reid, will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.