The Saint Joseph's men's basketball team wrapped up its regular season on Saturday as the Hawks fell to Big 5 rival La Salle, 78-77, at Hagan Arena. The Hawks now turn their attention to next week's Atlantic 10 Championship as they enter the conference postseason as the 13th seed and will face 12th seed George Mason in a First Round matchup on Wednesday, March 11, at 1 p.m. at the Barclays Center.
How It Happened
• Honoring its senior class prior to tip, it was Saint Joseph's upperclassmen who pushed the Hawks out to a 15-4 lead early as
Dennis Ashley sparked the offense with a corner three-pointer to open the scoring
• La Salle cut the Hawks' lead to 28-24, but a layup by
Ryan Daly and another three-pointer from Ashley pushed the lead to 33-24 with 5:18 to go in the first half.
• Down 42-35, the Explorers closed the first half on a 6-0 run to make it a 42-41 contest after 20 minutes.
• Saint Joseph's saw its lead erased by La Salle early in the second half, but the Hawks responded as a layup by
Greg Smith put his team ahead 57-51 at the 12:57 mark.
• Up 71-70, a pair of free throws by
Rahmir Moore gave the Hawks a three-point lead, but La Salle responded with four-straight points to take a 74-73 lead on a jumper in the paint by Ayinde Hikim with 1:22 to play.
• After trading the lead both ways, Saint Joseph's regained the lead, 77-76, on a driving layup by Daly with less than 30 seconds to go.
• On the ensuing possession, Jared Kimbrough was fouled and knocked down two free throws to give La Salle the lead, 78-77.
• Out of a timeout, Moore's go-ahead three-pointer rimmed in and out, as La Salle's Christian Ray was fouled going for a rebound.
• Ray missed the front-end of a one-and-one, but with under a second to play, the Hawks could not get off a quality game-winning shot.
Inside the Boxscore
• The Hawks shot a season-best 51.8 percent from the field as they connected on 29-of-56 from the field.
• La Salle shot 47.7 percent from the field (31-of-65) and scored 38 of its points inside the paint.
• Saint Joseph's led for 37:41, with the Explorers holding a lead for just 1:03, all coming in the second half.
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Ryan Daly finished with a game-high 25 points and added five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
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Rahmir Moore chipped in with 12 points and three rebounds in a reserve role.
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Cameron Brown was the third Hawk in double figures as he added 11 points.
• Saint Joseph's moves to 6-25 on the season, finishing A-10 play with a 2-16 mark and going 1-3 in the Big 5.
Next Up
With conference games still left to be played on Saturday evening, the Atlantic 10 will confirm its postseason bracket following the completion of all conference games. Full information, including game times and opponents, will be updated on SJUHawks.com once available.
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