DeAndre' Bembry had 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and Isaiah Miles added 16 as Saint Joseph's (8-2) used a balanced effort to defeat Illinois State, 79-65, at Hagan Arena in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. It is the fourth win in a row for the Hawks.
Bembry shot 6-for-9 from the field and made a season-high 4-of-6 three-pointers as the Hawks made a season-best 15 three-point field goals.
Shavar Newkirk tied his career-high with 13 points, James Demery added 12 points on a perfect shooting game - going 4-for-4 from the field, making one three point attempt and hitting 3-of-3 from the foul line. Senior Aaron Brown scored 11 for the Hawks.
MiKyle McIntosh led Illinois State (5-7) with 16 points while DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell had 12. Paris Lee scored 11 and Deontae Hawkins had 10 points for the Redbirds.
Saint Joseph's led by as much as 11 points in the first half, 18-7, but Illinois State went on a 15-3 run to take its only lead, 23-22. Demery hit a pair of free throws to return the lead back to the Hawks and start what would be a 24-4 run. Newkirk then hit a three-pointer, followed by two threes from Bembry and another by Newkirk at 2:53 to give SJU a 35-26 lead. After a layup by Brown, Bembry connected on his third three-pointer in a span of four minutes while Demery came up with a steal and ensuing layup and free throw with :02 left to give SJU a 45-26 lead at halftime.
The Hawks kept it going after the break, starting the second half with an 11-4 run, led by two three-pointers from Miles and one from Newkirk to go up 56-30. Miles, Bembry and Brown followed with consecutive three-pointers to give SJU a 62-33 lead.
Saint Joseph's biggest lead of the game was 74-42 on a pair of three throws by Miles at the 7:56 mark. Illinois State ended the game with a 23-5 run to provide the final margin.
We were just playing around the zone and not in the zone. We came at the zone a little bit more. James had worked his tail off. We are not a bad-shooting team. Our numbers are not anything to write home about, but sometimes we settle . . . And even in the second half, we were just taking shots. There was nothing magical, but we made an adjustment."
"Five guys in double figures. You start with the idea that in most of our games, we have the best player on the floor. We were able to play off of him. DeAndre' probably had less touches on the ball today than he had in the first nine games," said head coach Phil Martelli. "Today, Shavar had a good game and James Demery's play at the end of the half was a monster play."
Saint Joseph's returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 22 facing Virginia Tech in the ACC/A-10 Doubleheader at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
