NEW YORK – Senior Aaron Brown scored a career-high 26 points as the Saint Joseph's men's basketball team weathered a furious late charge to come away with an 80-78 win over Columbia at Levien Gym on Friday night.
Junior DeAndre' Bembry tallied 12 points, all in the second half, to go with nine rebounds, eight assists, and three blocks, while senior Isaiah Miles added 15 points as the Hawks shot a blistering 59.4% from the field in the second stanza to overcome a two-point halftime deficit.
With Saint Joseph's (5-2) leading 76-73 in the final minute, Bembry misfired on a three-pointer, but sophomore James Demery came down with the rebound to reset the shot clock and extend the possession. Columbia's Grant Mullins fouled Demery, and after dead ball contact between the players drew a double technical foul, Miles hit two free throws while Mullins connected on one of two to give the Hawks a 78-74 lead with 42.6 seconds to play.
A turnover from each side led to a layup by Alex Rosenberg to get Columbia (4-5) back within a bucket at 78-76 with 25 seconds remaining. Freshman Lamarr Kimble then sunk a pair of free throws to double the margin, but Maodo Lo's layup with eight seconds on the clock put the Lions back within a possession. A Hawk turnover, one of just eight in the game, gave Columbia the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead with five ticks to go, but Lo missed what would have been the game-tying layup and SJU escaped from New York with the victory.
The fast-paced first half saw numerous lead changes. After a Rosenberg three gave Columbia a 12-7 lead with 11:33 to play in the half, Miles converted a three-point play at the 11:02 mark to get the Hawks within two. Miles would go on to score 12 consecutive points for the Hawks, culminating in a jumper at the 8:27 mark that put SJU on top, 19-18. Layups by Demery and Brown gave Saint Joseph's its largest lead of the half at 23-18 with 5:37 to go.
The Lions then scored the next seven points of the game, going ahead 25-23 on a basket by Lo with just over four minutes to play. Sophomore Shavar Newkirk hit a pair of free throws before a three-pointer by Brown put the Hawks in front, 28-25, with 2:32 left. Columbia then scored the last five points of the half on a layup by Lo and a three-point play by Luke Petrasek.
Columbia took its largest lead of the game just over a minute into the second half, going ahead 34-28 on a pair of free throws by Rosenberg. However, a quick 8-2 spurt over the next 90 seconds, capped off by a three-pointer by graduate student Papa Ndao, brought the Hawks level at 36-36 with 17:20 to go. Ndao, making his first appearance since March of 2014 after missing last season due to a medical condition and the first six games of this season with a fractured finger, hit three second half three-pointers to finish with nine points.
Another Ndao three gave the Hawks their first lead of the half at 43-42 at the 14:30 mark. Just over a minute later, Bembry hit his first field goal of the game to give SJU a 48-44 edge with 13:12 to go in the game. Seven consecutive points by the Lions, however, gave Columbia a 51-48 lead with 11 minutes remaining.
The Hawks responded with an 11-0 run, featuring four points apiece from Brown and Demery, taking their largest lead of the game at 59-51 with 8:04 to go. Columbia clawed back within four at 63-59 with 6:37 left, but a Bembry three at the 3:14 mark restored the eight-point margin at 72-64.
The two teams traded baskets until the final minute and a half of the game as a tip-in by Kyle Castlin capped off a 7-2 stretch that made it a 76-73 game with 74 seconds to play. That set up a frenetic finish, and the Hawks held on for their fifth win of the season.
"I thought he (Aaron) had great pace and he had great recognition. He knew there were times he could get a layup. In the beginning of the game he settled for jumpers and that's why they went zone because our shooting numbers are not that good. I thought Aaron had a great pace to his game. And he fought at the other end of the floor. He was undersized but he fought," said coach Phil Martelli.
"On the road you have to be tighter. Aaron was big, Papa was big. No one was bigger than Fresh Kimble. He had a steal to put us up one, he had a floater and he made two big free throws. That's a good step forward and now we have to get some of the younger guys back in the flow," said Martelli.
Of having Ndao back in the lineup, the coach said, "He certainly confidently shot those threes. It actually took the chains off some of our guys. Aaron shot the ball freer, DeAndre' shot the ball freer. Now you've got another threat on the floor."
Lo and Rosenberg finished with a team-high 21 points apiece for Columbia, while Mullins and Jeff Coby reached double-figures as well. Both teams shot well from the charity stripe, as the Hawks went 11-of-12 and the Lions hit on nine of 11 attempts. Saint Joseph's was buoyed by an impressive bench effort, outscoring the Lions' reserves by a 23-16 margin, and 21 of the Hawks' 30 field goals came off of assists.
The Hawks return to the floor against their second consecutive Ivy League opponent on Tuesday night, December 8, when they host Princeton.
