Leading from wire-to-wire, Saint Joseph's men's basketball team downed rival La Salle, 82-62, Monday afternoon at Hagan Arena.

How It Happened
• Backed by 16 straight points, Saint Joseph's jumped out to a 19-2 lead, capped by a basket by Shawn Simmons II at 13:38.
• The Explorers answered with three consecutive three-pointers to pull within 19-11.
• The Hawks pushed back as they opened a 19-point lead, 42-23, on a layup by Lynn Greer III
• La Salle scored the final six points of the period as St. Joe's took a 42-29 advantage into halftime.
• A three-pointer by Tunde Vahlberg Fassi cut the Explorers' deficit to eight, 44-36.
• Saint Joseph's slowly began to pull away from there though as a basket by Cameron Brown gave the Hawks a 17-point lead, 60-42, with 11:29 to play.
• A jumper by La Salle's Jhamir Brickus made it 61-49 less than 90 seconds later.
• The Explorers would get no closer as the Hawks expanded their lead by as many as 21 in the final 10 minutes.

Inside The Boxscore
• Xzayvier Brown went 5-9 overall, including 4-6 from behind the arc and 5-5 from the foul line, for a game-high 19 points, and added four rebounds and four assists.
• Erik Reynolds II scored 15 points to go with three assists and three rebounds.
• Rasheer Fleming posted his third double-double of the year, grabbing a game-best 12 rebounds to go with 13 points.
• Christ Essandoko was the fourth Hawk in double figures with 13 points, and handed out five assists.
• Saint Joseph's shot 50.9 percent from the field (29-57), while holding La Salle to 36.1 percent (22-61).
• The Hawks finished with 40 points in the paint.
• Saint Joseph's and La Salle play again on February 3 at Tom Gola Arena.

Up Next
The Hawks return to action on Saturday as they cap their three-game homestand versus Duquesne at 2:30 p.m.