DeAndre' Bembry had 16 points and 13 rebounds to lead five players in double figures as Saint Joseph's knocked off #15/13 Dayton, 79-70, before a standing-room only crowd at Hagan Arena.
With the win, Saint Joseph's (22-4; 11-2 A-10) is now in a three-way tie for first place in the Atlantic 10 with Dayton (21-4; 11-2) and VCU (19-7; 11-2)
Isaiah Miles added a double-double scoring 12 points in the second half, while posting 12 rebounds and a career-high five assists for the Hawks, who have won four in a row and 11 of their last 12. Senior Aaron Brown scored 14 points and freshman Lamarr Kimble matched his career-high with 13 points on 4-for-5 shooting and handed out five assists. Sixth man James Demery scored 12 points on a 4-for-7 effort from the field.
It was the first ranked team beaten by the Hawks since March 16, 2014, when SJU defeated #23 VCU to win the Atlantic 10 Championship. It was the highest ranked team beaten on campus since the Hawks defeated #8 Xavier, 71-66, on March 6, 2008 in the final game for Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
Leading 36-27 at the half, Saint Joseph's built it up to a double-digit margin, 40-30, in the first two minutes. After Dayton cut it to 46-39 on a three-pointer by Smith, the Hawks went on an 8-1 run, highlighted by a slam by Demery off a lob from Kimble, followed by a backdoor layup by Miles from Bembry to inflate the lead to 54-40 and raised the decibel level of the packed house.
Dayton used a pair of threes by Darrell Davis and a layup by Steve McElvene to come within 56-48, but the Hawks answered as Kimble connected on a three-pointer and found Demery for a backdoor layup to push SJU's lead to 63-50 at 7:40.
The Flyers had another run in them as they outscored SJU, 9-3, with five points from Charles Cooke to come within, 66-61, at 3:49, but Kimble again came through, finding Miles for a layup and hitting a pair of free throws to build Saint Joseph's margin back to 70-61. And although Dayton cut its margin to 70-63 at 2:42, Bembry slammed home an offensive rebound to provide the exclamation point on the Hawks' win.
The Hawks jumped out to a 6-0 start, with all six scored by Brown before Dayton scored seven unanswered points. The teams then played through eight lead changes and two ties before the Hawks started to break away. Trailing 22-21, the Hawks went on a 12-2 run, started by four straight points off the bench from Kimble. Papa Ndao hit a three-pointer and then Brown and Demery followed with a pair of free throws each to give SJU its biggest lead of the half, 35-24.
"I'm happy for the players. They're welcome to enjoy it until midnight tonight. We have a challenge on Saturday when we play at Davidson. I'm very pleased for the players and how hard they have worked and how they responded in a big-game atmosphere," said Hawk coach Phil Martelli, who notched his 397th career win.
"It's a really good win because it was against a good team with a terrific young coach, and they've been on a run. Other opportunities that we've had at home, we haven't played as well. This time we did," said Martelli. "Fresh [Lamarr Kimble] had a wonderful game and Shavar had a wonderful start to the game. Those two kids played with one turnovers and 21 points from that position. They've done a terrific, sound job for us, and it wasn't too big (for them)."
"I don't think you can overlook what Javon Baumann did. He got people excited. .He didn't panic even though Isaiah was in foul trouble. There's more confidence in the group because they've had successes," said the coach. "We're getting to the point where we don't panic, like with Isaiah in foul trouble. There's a lot to like about this team. I'm not surprised. I'm pleased. But I'm not satisfied . . . I think we can play better. That's what we're going to strive to do not Saturday, but tomorrow at practice."
Saint Joseph's puts the nation's best road record (9-0) to the test when it travels to Davidson on Saturday for a nationally-televised contest on the NBC Sports Network at 2 p.m.
