PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's men's basketball team led for all but 36 seconds as the Hawks toppled the George Mason Patriots, 81-63, on Wednesday night. St. Joe's is now 18-10 overall and 10-5 in the Atlantic 10.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Derek Simpson scored 23 points and had eight assists with no turnovers in the contest.
• Jaiden Glover-Toscano netted 21, connecting on 4-for-8 shots from beyond the arc.
• Dasear Haskins dropped 12 with a team-high seven rebounds.
• Khaafiq Myers went 5-for-6 from the floor, scoring 12 points with six assists and no turnovers.
• St. Joe's committed a season-low three turnovers in the game. It is the fewest giveaways in a contest for SJU since also committing three on January 10, 2018, also against George Mason.
• For the game, Saint Joseph's connected on 51.6 percent (32-for-62) of its attempts from the floor.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Tied 10-10 after a George Mason hook shot, the Hawks exploded in the next two minutes, going on a 10-0 run, opening a 20-10 advantage and forcing a GM timeout at the 12:07 mark.
• The lead pushed to 13 before the Patriots started their climb, netting seven in a row before a floater from Myers stopped the spurt. The shot ignited a 10-2 run for St. Joe's, putting SJU on top 33-19 with six minutes to go in the half.
• Closing the half well, the Hawks scored 11 of the final 16 points to hold a 44-25 lead at intermission.
• Starting the second half, Saint Joseph's scored nine of the first 13 points, taking its largest lead of the night to that point at 53-29. The Patriots made some noise towards the midway portion of the second stanza, using a 10-2 run closing to 59-44 with 10:49 to go.
• St. Joe's was able to grab control of the game, delivering several major dunks to put the game away.

 
UP NEXT
The Hawks head to New England to face the Rhode Island Rams on Saturday, February 28. Tipoff from the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I., is scheduled for noon with the game to air on ESPN+.