Senior Isaiah Miles had a game-high 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead Saint Joseph's to a 78-70 win over Massachusetts in Atlantic 10 action at Hagan Arena. It is the Hawks' sixth straight win and their 13th in the last 14 games.
Miles scored eight of the Hawks' nine points in the final 1:30 of the game to preserve the win, while recording his seventh double-double of the season. He shot 8-for-14 from the field and was 9-for-11 from the foul line.
DeAndre' Bembry scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds for SJU and James Demery had 11 points, with 10 in the second half as the Hawks (17-3; 6-1) secured the win. Demery also hit 5-of-6 free throws.
Massachusetts (8-11; 1-6) was led by Seth Berger with 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, while Jabarie Hinds scored 13 points. Trey Davis and Zach Coleman each added 10 for the Minutemen.
Saint Joseph's held a 69-57 lead with 3:49 to play, but Massachusetts hit three straight layups and trimmed it to 69-63 with 1:43 to go. Miles converted a pair of free throws and connected on a three-point play off an assist from Demery to build SJU's lead back up to 74-65 with 59 seconds to play.
Coleman hit three free throws for UMass at :50, and Hinds converted a layup with 45 seconds left to pull the visitors within 75-70, but Miles sealed the win by hitting 3-of-4 from the line in the final 40 seconds.
Saint Joseph's trailed at the half for only the seventh time this year, 30-29, but the Hawks opened the second with a 12-3 run, with three-pointers from Papa Ndao and Miles to take a 41-33 lead at 16:37. Aaron Brown connected on the Hawks' third three in six minutes to increase the lead to 46-35.
Massachusetts cut its deficit to single digits, coming as close as 54-50 on a three-pointer by Hinds with 8:07 to play. Demery scored eight points in a five-minute span to give Saint Joseph's its biggest lead of the game, 69-57 with 3:49 remaining.
The Hawks struggled from the field in the first half, shooting just 31 percent from the field and 17 percent from three-point range. But SJU turned it around in the second, scoring 49 points on 48 percent shooting, while hitting 3-of-5 three-pointers.
The Hawks, who own a 6-0 road record this season, will travel to Rhode Island on Saturday, January 30.
