PHILADELPHIA (03/15/02) - Defense had been the Saint Joseph's Hawks achilles heel during the 2001-02 season, but in their finale at the fieldhouse, in front of a near sellout crowd of 2,911 fans, it was the team's offense that failed them. After taking a 35-32 halftime lead, the Atlantic 10's top shooting team turned stone cold from the field, hitting a season low 21.2 percent from the field in the second half (31.3 overall) in dropping a 76-54 decision to Ball State in a first round NIT game. "I think it was missed shots." stated a perplexed SJU head coach Phil Martelli on the difference in the game. "We had the ball to the front of the rim any number of times and just missed layup after layup after layup." Ball State (22-11), a team like the Hawks (19-12) that was ranked in the Top 20 in December, stormed out of the lockerroom at the start of the second half, nailing consecutive three-pointers to take a 38-35 lead. That was the start of a 20-7 run that opened up a 10-point lead (52-42) for the Cardinals. SJU cut it to four, on a 6-0 run, but then the basket seemed to shrink for the Hawks. Nine straight misses and three turnovers later and St. Joe's was looking at a 61-48 deficit, and a season slipping away. The Hawks dry spell would continue as the Cardinals would hold SJU to just two Delonte West field goals over the final 12 minutes as the game got out of control. "Nineteen points in a half at home, let alone playing a good team - against an average team is going to get you in trouble," added Martelli on his team's lowest second half output of the year. "It is hard to explain 31 percent for our team. We had good preparation. It was bad basketball dictated by whether the ball went in, and the ball did not go in." The Hawks did not shoot much better in the first stanza (41%), but held a nine-point lead, 30-21, after a West jumper with five minutes remaining. But three straight three-pointers, two coming from Patrick Jackson, closed the gap. That was a sign of things to come. Jackson, who hit 6-of-8 from long range, led all scorers with 28 points. Junior forward Theron Smith posted a double-double, tallying 14 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Damian Reid, who set SJU records for most games played (122) and started (121), finished his career on a high note, tallying his fifth double-double of the year (13 points, 12 rebounds), to lead the Hawks. Jameer Nelson added 11 points and six rebounds while West posted his fifth double figure scoring game of his freshman season (10 points). West was also the only Hawk to shoot 50 percent from the floor (4-8). Senior Bill Phillips tallied eight points, including his 1,000th of his SJu career. That marked the third Hawk to record 1000 this season, and the fourth senior to reach the plateau (Marvin O'Connor reached it last year). Phillips also set the SJU mark for three-point percentage (52-105, .495). "We are appreciative of what they have done," stated Martelli on his four seniors. "They have won a lot of games in a two-year period. But they are all in good position. Marvin has already graduated. Billy has graduated. Damian will graduate (in May) and Na'im will graduate in the summer." So four seniors went out on a sour note, but the memories that they have provided the Hawk faithful will last a lifetime.