Isaiah Miles scored 17 points and DeAndre' Bembry had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead Saint Joseph's to a 78-68 win over Maryland Eastern Shore at Hagan Arena.
It was SJU's sixth win in a row, matching the longest streak since February 2014. Saint Joseph's, which received votes in this week's AP Poll, is now 10-2.
James Demery added 12 points off the bench for Saint Joseph's.
Maryland Eastern Shore was led by a game-high 23 points from Devin Martin, while Dominique Elliott had 16 points and nine rebounds. Ryan Andino had 14 and Bakari Copeland added 11 for UMES (3-11).
Saint Joseph's held onto the win despite 50 percent shooting by UMES in the second half. Leading 36-33 at halftime, the Hawks quickly took a 42-33 lead after a three-pointer by Shavar Newkirk. Martin scored seven straight points for UMES to cut its deficit to 44-40 with 15:20 to play.
Although the four-point margin was the closest UMES would get the rest of the way, the visitors hung around the entire half, making 13 of their first 18 field goal attempts.
After Saint Joseph's went up 61-51 with 8:20 to play, UMES cut it to 61-56, and would come within five points seven more times in the half.
The Hawks led 66-56 with 6:25 left and UMES went on a quick 7-2 run to cut it to 68-63 at 4:33.
After a dunk by Bembry gave SJU a 73-65 lead with 1:42 to play, Martin hit his third three-pointer of the game at 1:29 to again pull UMES within five, 73-68. But Saint Joseph's would close out the game with four points from Miles and a free throw by Demery at :15 to provide the final margin.
In the first half, the Hawks jumped out to a quick 14-6 lead and then expanded it to 25-14 on a jumper by Aaron Brown at 6:55. Saint Joseph's then took its biggest lead of the game, 30-16, on a three-pointer by Miles at 5:06.
The Hawks would then go without a point for close to three minutes while UMES scored 11 straight points to cut its deficit to 33-27. The visitors would outscore SJU by 17-6 over those final five minutes of the half to go into the intermission trailing by only 36-33.
"Give credit to Maryland Eastern Shore. You're in a game where you have to earn respect . . . They play. They are extraordinarily well-coached," said SJU coach Phil Martelli. "Also give credit to our players. When they came back for practice on the 26th for practice, they were terrific. They got three blocked shots in a row going to the basket. We've established ourselves that we can execute a defensive game plan."
"We've found out that we have two high-scoring, double-digit scorers. We've found out that James can come off the bench and impact the game. Papa had a good defensive game. And we have to find one of the point guards. In the first half, Shavar had four turnovers and Lamarr had four assists. Shavar comes out and hits two threes in the second half. I've said since August that this was a good team, and whether or not we can be good in basketball is to be determined. We have 19 games left to find out whether we're good enough."
"I want to give them everything I have to keep this going. We've advanced and we are playing better. Learning from losing has never been a big thing with me. I'd rather learn from winning," said Martelli.
Saint Joseph's gets the Atlantic 10 schedule underway on Saturday, Jan. 2, when it travels to Richmond.
