Jerardi: St. Joe's has a shot despite Newkirk's absence
IF THE NCAA Tournament selections were now, my top four seeds would be pretty easy: East Villanova South Baylor
IF THE NCAA Tournament selections were now, my top four seeds would be pretty easy: East – Villanova
South – Baylor
Midwest – Kansas
West – Gonzaga
Saint Joseph's had been more competitive in its Atlantic 10 games than seemed likely when point guard Shavar Newkirk was declared out for the season after tearing his ACL on the final play of the first half against George Washington on Dec. 30. The Hawks won that night, but had lost its last four league games by a combined 21 points when Lamarr Kimble launched a difficult elbow jumper with under 20 seconds left Saturday at Hagan Arena against La Salle.
If it went in, SJU would have a one-point lead against La Salle. It went in, the clock stopping at 15.8 seconds. La Salle, which was also playing without its point guard (Pookie Powell missed the last two games with a lower leg injury), had a final chance. Jordan Price muscled his way to the basket, but his very short shot hung on the rim and fell out at the buzzer.
St. Joe's (10-10, 3-5 A-10) won 73-72. Kimble, playing the final 61/2 minutes with four fouls, hit the biggest shot of his college career. La Salle (11-8, 5-3) had been smoking hot a week ago, but lost its third straight.
Hawks sophomore Chris Clover (21 points) had the best game of his college career, shooting 8-for-11 overall and 4-for-5 from three to go along with five assists. Price had 21 for La Salle, which trailed 40-31 early in the second half and led 64-58 deep into the second half.
SJU may very well have won some of those close games if it could shoot free throws even passably. They Hawks shoot just 64.8 percent, 304th out of 351 teams. Thery were just 14-for-25 (56 percent) against La Salle, but 9-for-17 shooting from the arc was enough to overcome the dreadful foul shooting.
After a five-game winning streak, La Salle looked as if it was poised to jump to the top of the conference standings. Then, the Explorers had a lost week, getting crushed at VCU, a home loss to Penn and now this. Not that it is much consolation, but the SJU loss does not count in the City Series standings. The Explorers will get a final chance to get their first Big 5 win since the 2014-15 season on Feb. 18 when SJU visits Gola Arena.
Owls lose at Houston
Temple, which trailed for the final 34 minutes at Houston, got within 55-52 with 10 minutes left, but no closer, finally losing 79-66.
Houston (15-7, 6-4 American) had 21 free-throw attempts to just six for Temple (11-11, 2-6). Free throws are the most efficient way to score so the Cougars ended up getting 1.2 points per possession, offensive numbers that are almost impossible to overcome on the road.
Last season, Temple won eight of its last nine league games. The season before, the Owls won 10 of 12. Given the remaining schedule, you can make a reasonable case (and kenpom.com makes it) that Temple can finish 7-2 heading into the AAC Tournament. That would get the Owls to 18 wins and a more than reasonable chance at the NIT, with the NCAA possible if they got hot and won the conference tournament. So, despite the 2-6 in the AAC, there is still much to play for.
Drexel loses to Charleston
Drexel's offense is more capable than last season, but the Dragons are just too easy to score against as Charleston (17-6, 8-2 Colonial Athletic) proved at the DAC, winning 90-76 while shooting 51 percent from the field and, after an incredible 30-for-31 (96.8 percent) from the foul line, scoring 1.36 ppp.
Drexel (8-14, 2-7), which got 17 from freshman shooter Kari Jonsson and 15 from Sammy Mojica, trailed just 47-44 at halftime. But you are not going to win when your opponent's three top scorers combined to score 71 points and shoot 24-for-24 from the free-throw line.
It gets no easier for the Dragons who play at William & Mary Monday night, a makeup for a game that was postponed by a snow storm Jan. 7, their third game in five days and the first of three road games this week.
@DickJerardi