Feb. 21, 2013

PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's (14-10; 5-6 A-10) men's basketball team will return to action after a week's break to host George Washington (12-12; 6-6) on Saturday, February 23. Game time at Hagan Arena is 4 p.m.

The game will be televised locally on The Comcast Network and also regionally on Comcast Sports Mid-Atlantic.

The game will be broadcast on SportsRadio 610 WIP with Matt Martucci and Joe Lunardi calling the action. Audio streaming of the game will be available on SJUHawks.com free of charge. LISTEN LIVE

Fans can also access the broadcast on their mobile devices by going to IRadioPhilly.com

Video streaming is also available with a subscription to Hawks All-Access.. VIEW GAME

Game Notes

• Saint Joseph's has not played since last Saturday, when the Hawks suffered a 76-64 loss to La Salle in a Big 5 and A-10 matchup at The Palestra. Halil Kanacevic led SJU with 16 points and Ronald Roberts had 13 points and 10 boards for his 12th double-double. • The next home victory will give Saint Joseph's a total of 350 on its homecourt. The Hawks are currently 349-101 in 63 seasons at Hagan Arena/Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. • Carl Jones continues to climb the all-time scoring list and now has 1,725 points and with just four more, can surpass Clifford Anderson and move into fifth place. With 200 three-pointers in his career, he is now sixth on the all-time list. (more on pg. 5) • Saint Joseph's is in the midst of a stretch in which seven consecutive games are being televised, with five on national tv.

LAST TIME OUT: La Salle shot 72.7 percent in the second half and its backcourt combined for 45 points to lead the Explorers to a 76-64 win over Saint Joseph's in an Atlantic 10 and Big 5 matchup at the soldout Palestra. Halil Kanacevic shot 6-for-8 from the field to lead Saint Joseph's with 16 points while Ronald Roberts had his 12th double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Langston Galloway added 12 points and a season-high five steals. The Explorers expanded on a 29-24 halftime lead and the Hawks could only come within six points early in the half, despite connecting on 63.0 percent (17-for-27) of their field goal attempts. La Salle, which went 10-for-16 from three-point range in the game, took a 45-34 lead with 13:13 to play. The Hawks cut it to 48-41 on a three by Kanacevic, but La Salle came back and ran off five straight points to go up 53-41, for its biggest lead of the game. SJU's Galloway picked up a steal and converted the three-pointer to pull SJU within 53-44, but the Explorers would maintain close to a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

LAST TIME VS. GW: Four Hawks scored in double figures as Saint Joseph's held off a late rally to defeat George Washington, 73-66, at the Smith Center. Langston Galloway had 18 points, Carl Jones had 16, and Daryus Quarles had a career-high 15, while Halil Kanacevic had 10 points and 13 rebounds. SJU trailed early but went on a 14-0 run to open up a 22-9 lead. SJU led at the half, 37-20, but the Colonials scored 10 straight and cut it to 39-30. GW would come within four points three more times, but with the score at 64-60, Jones hit a three that sealed the win for the Hawks.

THAT 70'S SHOW: The Hawks are 7-0 when they score 70 to 79 points and 8-1 when scoring more than 79 points. They've only scored more than 79 points on two occasions - a 96-91 win over Iona and a 92-86 overtime loss at VCU.

THE NUMBERS GAME: The Hawks are averaging 67.7 points per game and have scored 69 points or less 15 times. SJU is holding its foes to an average of 65.1 points but has seen them score 70 or more points in nine games.

ON BOARD: Saint Joseph's has outrebounded its opponents in 13 of 24 games and owns a +0.8 rebounding margin. In league games, they've won the battle of the boards six times. Ronald Roberts tops the conference in rebounding (8.8) and in offensive rebounds (3.8).

DEFENDING THE THREE: Heading into the La Salle game, the Hawks were the third best team in the A-10 for three-point field goal percentage defense (31.6). But La Salle shot better than double that percentage, hitting 62.2 percent in the game. SJU now ranks sixth in the league, holding the opponents to 32.6 percent.

UNDER PRESSURE: For the first time this year, Saint Joseph's used an extensive fullcourt press in the second half of the Richmond game. It spurred the Hawks on to a 15-0 run that helped them erase a 36-27 halftime deficit and earn the 61-55 win. Phil Martelli credited Chris Wilson with the idea as the sophomore asked if the Hawks could give it a try.

GOOD TEAMMATE: Phil Martelli also gave credit to Halil Kanacevic after the Richmond game for passing up his chance to play early in the second half. The Hawks were in the midst of their 15-point run and Kanacevic told Martelli to "let those guys ride it out". The junior went into the game six minutes in with the Hawks holding a six-point lead.

DEE-FENSE: SJU's defense forced Richmond into shooting just 24 percent from the field and scoring just 19 points in the second half. They also held one of the nation's top three-point shooters, Darien Brothers, to an 0-for-4 effort beyond the arc, and 2-for-13 shooting from the field.

MAKING IT COUNT: Langston Galloway only made two shots against Richmond, both three-pointers, but they were key baskets in the second half. His first came during the 15-0 scoring run and his second came with 22 seconds remaining and gave SJU a 60-55 lead to seal the win.

HALFTIME ADJUSTMENT: At UMass, Phil Martelli did something unusual and changed the starters for the second half. Halil Kanacevic replaced Chris Wilson at the start of the period and ended up scoring all 12 of his points in that half. Kanacevic scored 10 points in a row and shot 4-for-8 from the field in the half.

HANDOUTS: The Hawks are third in the A-10 in assists both in conference games (14.5) and fifth in overall games (14.3). SJU is second in assist/turnover ratio in league games with 1.3. In the win over Temple, the Hawks handed out 17 assists while committing just nine turnovers.

COMING BACK STRONG: Halil Kanacevic told Phil Martelli he would "come back stronger than ever" after missing three contests (Jan. 12, 17, 19) due to a death in his family which caused him to travel to Europe, and he has done just that. Kanacevic has scored double figures in four straight games upon his return and now in five of the last seven. Since his return, Kanacevic has averaged 12.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists and is shooting 58.6 percent from the field. He was back in action vs. St. Bonaventure and shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the field for a season-high 16 points. He followed that with 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four blocks in the win over Xavier. At Fordham, he scored 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting and had 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists vs. Temple. In the La Salle game, the junior had a team-high 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Kanacevic has not been in the starting lineup since Dec. 11 at Villanova. After serving a two-game suspension (Dec. 22, 28) he has come off the bench in every game since.

LIVING WITH THE THREE: The Hawks average 7.2 three-point field goals made and 21.0 three-point attempts per game. In the 14 wins, SJU is shooting 37.4 percent from three-point range; in the 10 losses, the Hawks are converting just 29.5 percent from beyond the arc.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: The Atlantic 10 Championship will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn from March 14 to 17. A total of 12 teams will make the trip to Brooklyn with the league's top four teams receiving first-round byes. The championship game is set for March 17 at 1 p.m. with the telecast on CBS.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Hawks go on the road to Saint Louis on Feb. 27 before their final two regular-season home games on March 2 and 6, vs. Fordham and Rhode Island, respectively. SJU closes out the regular season at Charlotte on March 9.