DAYTON, OH -- At 6:45 p.m. Thursday, the players were taking their warm-ups, the pep bands were playing, and there was something weird in the air as Saint Joseph's and La Salle prepared for their Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinal game. This wasn't a cramped, booming Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, or a sweaty, creaking Palestra, or a cozy Tom Gola Arena. For the first time in 107 games against each other, the Hawks and the Explorers tipped off away from Philadelphia. And it just felt . . . different. UD Arena is modern and sleek and airy. As the warm-up clock counted down and the gym slowly filled with spectators, the sounds of the teams' pre-game rituals echoed around the cavernous building. It was a sharp contrast from typically defeaning Big 5 games. The strangeness wasn't limited to the venue. While the Hawks shrugged off a sluggish first half to pull away for a 68-48 win, other odd story lines -- some welcome for Hawk fans, other not so -- were playing out. Junior guard Tyrone Barley, by most accounts one of the Atlantic 10's most ferocious and effective defenders, was inexplicably left off the conference's just-announced All-Defensive Team. His response was to put the clamps on Gary Neal, La Salle's 19-ppg guy, who notched a quiet 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting. "The coaches in this league should be embarrassed that this kid's not on the All-Defensive Team," Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli said after the game. "That's an absolute joke. They should give [the vote] back to the media. At least you guys might pay attention." La Salle coach Billy Hahn echoed Martelli's comments. "I was really surprised," he said. "I was shocked. I think he's the best on-the-ball defender in the conference." Barley himself spread the credit around. "I just wanted to take him out of the game," he said. "I wasn't able to play him as aggressively as I normally do because I had some fouls in the first half. But it was a team effort." For the third straight game, Barley started in place of Delonte West, who remained troubled by the right fibula stress fracture that has limited him lately. West, his sock bulging with tape, entered the game with 15:23 left in the half and appeared tentative and rusty -- not unlike his teammates. Slowly, though, he loosened up. He checked out, then back in, and began to resemble his old self. A three, a strong dribble-drive, and West was on his way to a nine-point first half -- tops for the Hawks. Not quite halfway through the first half, West, still moving slowly, attempted a spin move down low that left him doubled over on the baseline. He walked back to the bench under his own steam, but soon left the game, not to return. Whether the Hawks are a one-and-done NCAA Tournament team or a legitimate threat depends largely on how much West will be able to contribute each night. According to Martelli, things will be touch-and-go every game. "It'll be the same thing [Friday] night," Martelli said. "The doctors have recommended to play him in spurts and sit him. [His removal] was really a coach's decision. He gave us a burst in the first half. When I felt we had the game in hand, there was no need to play at that point." Jameer Nelson (15 points) and Pat Carroll (14) led the way for Saint Joseph's, which held an opponent under 50 points for the eighth time this season. The Hawks got a huge lift at both ends of the floor from their role players and bench. Chet Stachitas shot his way out of a slump, nailing three treys, and Dwayne Jones tallied eight points and grabbed 13 boards. "Coach put it to us this way: On the streets where we play, you play to go next," Nelson said. "We realized we have to play hard, or you're going to go home." As the first half slogged on and La Salle hung around one got a true sense of the Hawks' youth -- a rarity during this overachieving season. "The first half, there was a lot of nonbreathing," Martelli said. "I was afraid we were going to have a couple of guys turn blue." Eventually, the Hawks found their sea legs and began playing like the team that won the A-10's East Division. "The bench really won this game for us," Martelli said. " All these kids have prepared themselves through really intense practices all year long. That's what I tried to remind the team of." The Saint Joseph's partisans who made the trip produced as much noise as their numbers would allow. But the crowd, many clad in Dayton sweatshirts, was largely passive, content to anticipate a Flyer win in the nightcap and wonder which opponent, the Hawks or the Explorers, UD would face Friday night. Dayton is hundreds of miles from the Palestra, and surely no Big 5 game has ever been this quiet. On this odd night, the Hawks didn't care -- they secured themselves a date for the semifinals. "I think we'll play a whole lot better [Friday] night," Martelli said. "And we'll need to." --Tom Durso/Saint Joseph's University Communications