VIEW GAME
GAME NOTES
Saint Joseph's junior forward Halil Kanacevic will not be available for the Hawks' next few games due to a death in his family. Kanacevic's maternal uncle passed away this week and he is accompanying his parents to their homeland of Montenegro.
• The Hawks saw their three-game winning streak come to an end with the 72-66 loss to #14 Butler in the Bulldogs' inaugural A-10 game.
• Chris Wilson led SJU against Butler with 15 points on a career-best 5-for-7 three-point shooting. Ronald Roberts had 12 points, nine rebounds and a career-high blocks in the loss.
• This marks the second consecutive meeting with Duquesne in Pittsburgh. Last year the Hawks opened up A-10 play with a 98-94 overtime win.
• Saint Joseph's RPI is 61, ranking the Hawks seventh among Atlantic 10 teams.
AST TIME OUT: Saint Joseph's came up short against #14 Butler, 72-66, in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams at Hagan Arena. Chris Wilson scored all of his team-high 15 points in the first half for Saint Joseph's, as he shot 5-for-8 from the field with a career-high five three-pointers. C.J. Aiken added 13 points, Ronald Roberts had 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and Langston Galloway scored 11 points for the Hawks. Holding a 51-46 lead with 15:04 to play, Saint Joseph's would miss 10 straight field goal attempts, scoring its only points from the foul line. That allowed Butler to go on a 15-6 run to open up a 61-56 lead with 6:12 to play. The Hawks would close to within 63-61 with 5:01 to play but a three-pointer gave Butler a 66-61 lead. SJU would convert just 2-of-8 field goal attempts in those final minutes, allowing the Bulldogs to seal the win. Saint Joseph's used five consecutive three-pointers to jump out to a 15-9 lead, as Wilson hit his first four and Galloway added another. The Hawks increased it to 19-12 before Butler used a 13-3 run to take its first lead of the game, 25-22. A three by Papa Ndao ignited an 11-2 run for the Hawks, pushing them ahead by 35-27, and eventually, 40-35 at the half. Butler ran off the first nine points of the second half to take a 44-40 lead before SJU regained it on back-to-back three-pointers by Aiken. But after a layup by Galloway and a three-point play by Roberts, the Hawks would go into their 0-for-10 slump.
ON FIRE: Sophomore Chris Wilson led the Hawks to a blazing start versus Butler as he started the game making four straight three-pointers. Langston Galloway chipped in with one to give SJU a 15-9 lead in the first four minutes. Wilson ended the game with a career-high five three's on 5-for-7 shooting. Entering the contest, Wilson was shooting just 7-for-30 from beyond the arc.
AND ONE: Ronald Roberts had three conventional three-point plays against Butler and went 4-for-5 from the foul line. The junior has improved his free-throw shooting and has made 8-of-11 (72.7%) in the last four games. Overall, he is converting 65.6 percent on the year.
HOLDING ON: The Hawks are having trouble holding on to second-half leads this year, similar to last season when they had the lead in 11 of the 14 losses. This season, Saint Joseph's has held second-half leads in four of the five losses. Against Butler, Saint Joseph's owned a 40-35 halftime lead and had the edge with 8:48 to play. Butler would go on a 7-0 run and take the lead for good in the 72-66 defeat of SJU. The others, with the time of SJU's last lead in ( ), are: Florida State (14:50); Villanova (1:08), Fairfield (:30).
THE STREAK: During the recent three-game winning streak, Carl Jones averaged 20.0 points, followed by Langston Galloway at 17.3 ppg, C.J. Aiken at 16.3 and Ronald Roberts at 10.0 points per game. The Hawks' team numbers for those three games are as follows:
SJU Opponents
FG% .477 .382 .
3PT% .355 .246
FT% .754 .649
PPG 76.3 66.7
PICTURE PERFECT: C.J. Aiken made every shot he took at Drexel, going 6-for-6 from the field, 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and 5-for-5 from the foul line to notch a team-high 19 points. The junior also recorded eight rebounds and a season-high six blocked shots.
RETURN TO ACTION: Sophomore Evan Maschmeyer is now cleared to play after missing the entire season thus far with a fracture in his right hand suffered in practice the week of Nov. 5.
FOR STARTERS: The Hawks have used three different starting lineups due to injuries and other reasons. Here are the lineups and the number of games for each, along with the team's record:
Aiken, Roberts, Kanacevic, Galloway, Wilson - 4 (3-1)
Aiken, Roberts, Kanacevic, Galloway, Jones - 3 (1-2)
Aiken, Roberts, Galloway, Wilson, Jones - 6 (4-2)
FROM THE LINE: The Hawks have shot 70 percent or better in five consecutive games and are hitting 75.2 percent (76-101) during this stretch.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Hawks go on the road to face new conference member VCU (Jan. 17), and then have a quick turnaround to play Penn at The Palestra on January 19. SJU returns to Hagan Arena on Jan. 23 against St. Bonaventure.
