March 30, 2005
Box Score
NEW YORK -
By Tom Durso
They were smaller, as usual. They were less athletic, as usual.
They played their game, as usual. They won, as usual.
The Hawks continued their inspired 2005 run Tuesday night in Madison
Square Garden, earning a trip to the National Invitation Tournament
championship game after holding off Memphis, 70-58, before a largely
pro-SJU crowd, in the semifinals.
The win was Saint Joseph's fifth in this year's post-season, a program
record. The previous high was four victories, garnered by the 1996 team,
which also reached the NIT finals. The Hawks (24-11) will play
South Carolina, which defeated Maryland, 75-67, on Thursday at 7 p.m.
"I'm awfully proud of these guys because they've gotten every ounce of
this they could get," said head coach Phil Martelli. "They played every
game in the Atlantic 10 [tournament], and every game in the NIT. I'm happy
for the players. ... In that locker room now, they're calm. They expected
to play Thursday night. Each team gets their own resume, and this team is
going to have a special resume."
Tuesday's game was decided as most Hawk wins this year have been. Pat
Carroll, the game's leading scorer, buried clutch shot after clutch shot
and finished with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Dwayne Jones hit the
boards like a man possessed, grabbing 14 rebounds and pitching in 13
points to earn a double-double. Dwayne Lee ran the point with poise and
precision, notching seven assists, many of them lasers inside which led to
key SJU buckets down the stretch.
"That's the thing that makes them good," marveled Tigers head coach John
Calipari. "Each guy does what he does well, and doesn't try to do more."
Most important, the Hawks dictated the pace of the game. Most times down
the floor they were content to run their halfcourt offense, which often
takes the shot clock to single digits before the ball goes in the air.
With the exception of two brief stretches, one in each half, during which
SJU's play suddenly turned ragged, the Hawks managed to hold onto the
basketball reasonably well and find the shot they wanted.
"We wanted to play possession basketball," Martelli said. "I thought we
turned the ball over too easily in the first half. In the second half they
made that run, and then Pat hit a big shot. We want to play basketball at
our pace, and that fortunately in this case is what we were able to do.
Fifty-eight [points] to that team is a good defensive stand. We stepped up
and made our free throws. The rebounding effort across the board, and
Dwayne Jones in particular, was just spectacular."
Memphis, an explosive scoring team, rarely found an offensive rhythm and
shot just 39.3 percent from the floor. Saint Joseph's, at 40 percent, was
barely better, but the Hawks hit twice as many treys, sank 12 more free
throws, and outrebounded the Tigers, 40 to 31.
"Our focus here was the glass, the glass, the glass," Martelli noted.
Carroll was his usual sharpshooting self, nailing six of nine from beyond
the arc. He also slashed across the lane to hit a running lefthander in
the second half, helping to quell a Memphis run.
"The fact that noboby expected much out of this team, and we're playing
our sixth game in the postseason right now," began Carroll, who continued:
"I've had more satisfaction in this season and this post-season experience
than I've ever had in basketball before."
"St. Joe's did what they do, and we didn't do what we do," said Calipari.
"I couldn't get them to pass the ball to each other, and I don't know why.
... And the toughness -- they just out-toughed us. They had 11 offensive
rebounds in the first half. That's just going to balls. They jerked balls
out of our hands.
"They made the plays they had to make, and we didn't. They deserved to win
the game. They played well. We held them to 40 percent [shooting], and
they made big-time threes when they needed them. I'm impressed with their
team."
And so a Saint Joseph's team that has already etched its place in the
legacy of a proud and storied program gets the chance to play one more
time. After a 3-6 start, that fact alone is stunning.
"The coaches made us believe in ourselves that we can be a good team,"
Carroll said. "It took a little bit of time for us to make that change.
The coaches turned it around for us and gave the players confidence."