PHILADELPHIA – Five players scored in double figures as the Saint Joseph's men's basketball team opened Atlantic 10 conference play with an 81-72 win against the UMass Minutemen on Tuesday afternoon.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Rasheer Fleming scored 16 to lead SJU and pulled down six rebounds.
• Erik Reynolds II connected on a pair of three-pointers in the game, moving him in to second place all-time on the Hawks list, passing Pat Carroll. Reynolds now has 295 career treys. He finished the game with 14 points.
• Dasear Haskins and Anthony Finkley each scored 11. Haskins added a career-best nine rebounds.
• In his return to the lineup, Xzayvier Brown netted 11 with seven rebounds and five assists.
• Justice Ajogbor had his best game as a Hawk, posting season-highs with nine points and 10 rebounds while adding three blocks.
• The win was the 200th career head coaching win for Billy Lange. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Neither team got off to a particularly hot start from the floor as the Hawks held UMass to 4-for-17 in the opening eight minutes. The offense was carried by Fleming, who netted 11 of the first 15 points for SJU.
• Trailing 10-7, St. Joe's began to find its rhythm, using a 15-7 run that saw six different players score as the Hawks opened a 22-15 lead with 9:21 remaining in the half.
• The Minutemen didn't go away, using a 6-1 run to knot the contest at 31-31 at the 3:46 mark before Saint Joseph's ended strong, closing with a thunderous dunk by Fleming to take a 37-33 lead into the break.
• The second half opened as a back-and-forth affair with the squads trading baskets and neither holding more than a seven-point lead in the first seven minutes of the stanza.
• The Hawks finally broke through that barrier as consecutive three-pointers by Finkley and Haskins pushed SJU to its largest lead of the night to that juncture at 55-47 with 11:59 remaining.
• SJU pushed the lead out to as many as 10, but UMass did not quit, getting the lead down to 72-68 with under four minutes remaining.
• From there, a dunk from Ajogbor ignited a 9-4 closing spurt for Saint Joseph's to help seal the win. 

UP NEXT
The Hawks have their first road test of the conference slate, traveling to Saint Louis on January 3, 2025. Tipoff from Chaifetz Arena is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. eastern time with the game to air on ESPN.