AMHERST, MA (03/08/03) - Jameer Nelson scored 28 of Saint Joseph's 52 points to lead the Hawks over host Massachusetts, 52-49, on Saturday afternoon. The win lifts SJU to 22-5, 12-4 in Atlantic 10 play. It marks the seventh time in the 94-year history of SJU men;s basketball that a Hawk team has posted 22 regular season wins. UMass falls to 11-17 overall, 6-10 in A-10 play.
"That was as bad as we have played all year," stated a visibly distraught head coach Phil Martelli. "That was ugly basketball."
How ugly was this game? The winning team connected on just 28 percent from the field (14-50), and only 4-of-21 (19%) in the second half. What was even more unbelievable was the fact that the Hawks did not make a field goal over the final 12:37 of the game. Instead, it was all Nelson on the line. The Hawk All-America candidate attempted 20 free throws, a SJU record for a half, making 15 of those attempts.
St. Joe's, which still leads the nation in field goal percentage defense, held UMass to 36.4 percent from the field, including 29.4 percent from behind the three-point line. It was also the seventh time that the Hawks defense, which entered the game ranked third nationally in scoring defense (59.5 ppg.).
Nelson, who became the 18th Hawk player to top the 500-point plateau in a season, posted his second double-double of the season, sixth of his career. He grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, including the most offensive rebounds (7) by a SJU player this year.
With Delonte West missing his second straight game due to a stress fracture of the right fibula, Nelson, who also had a game-high five steals, was basically the team's offense, especially in the second half. He scored more than half of the team's points for the game, and was the entire offense (10-14 free throws) over the final 7:21.
"Delonte will be reevaluated by Dr. Ciccotti on Tuesday," stated Martelli. "It is hopeful that he will be able to practice after that. We expect him to be available for the Atlantic 10 Tournament."
The Hawks never trailed over the final 37 minutes, but were never able to separate themselves from the Minutemen. After Nelson hit his final two free throws with 14 seconds to play to give SJU a 52-46 lead, it appeared to be finally over.
But a wild finish, that included one free throw by Jeff Viggiano (7 seconds), an offensive rebound basket by Jackie Rogers (5 seconds) and a stolen inbounds pass and subsequent three-point attempt by Viggiano, which just missed hitting the mark, left Martelli with a bad taste in his mouth.
The Hawks won on a day when super shooter Pat Carroll (2-10, 2-8 from three-point range) was off the mark. And Tyrone Barley, who had been averaging 13 points per game as a starter, could manage only seven points, all of which came in opening five minutes of the second half.
The 28 percent shooting for the game is the lowest for the Hawks this season as is the 15 percent (3-20) marksmanship from three-point range.
Anthony Anderson led UMass with 18 points while Jackie Rogers added 13 points.
The Hawks open play at the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Thursday, March 13. SJU will take on the winner of the La Salle-Fordham opening round game on Monday night at the Tom Gola Arena. Game time on Thursday will be 7:00 p.m.. The game will be televised locally on CN8 and can be heard on WPEN 950 AM.
