Drexel nearly spoils St. Joe's big night
THE CURTAIN finally lifted on Hagan Arena, the new/old home of Saint Joseph's basketball. The former Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, expanded by a thousand seats and refurbished with the sort of creature comforts that previously were lacking, got rave reviews for its atmosphere and amenities from the sellout crowd of 4,200.
But you know how it sometimes can be on opening night at the theater, when the players get to perform before a live audience for the first time. There are jitters. Lines get bungled. Sometimes you have to wait for the third act for everyone to find a comfort zone.
That's sort of how Saint Joseph's 77-67, overtime victory over Drexel evolved, an entertainingly bad game that was marked by big plays, a fortuitous bounce or two and enough miscues to cause coaches Phil Martelli, of the Hawks, and Bruiser Flint to pull out their hair. Well, Martelli probably would have done that had he any hair to spare.
What do you say about a contest that included a combined 42 turnovers, several airballs, poor decision-making by veteran players who should know better and the sort of collective indecision that suggested both teams were in the grip of just a bit more pressure than usual?
"Not a thing of beauty, but I'm very pleased by the defensive effort," Martelli said.
"The game was really competitive, Philly-style," offered Flint, a St. Joe's alumnus. "Both teams played extremely hard."
Still, Flint continued: "It was ugly. But my teams play ugly. We're not a pretty team. Oh, and we're a bad free-throw shooting team, too."
Hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, someone once said, and the rabid St. Joe's student section rocked as if it were the 2003-04 season again and Jameer Nelson and Delonte West were leading the Cinderella Hawks to a No. 1 ranking. Winning does have a way of putting a positive spin on just about anything.
"The crowd," Martelli said when asked what had enabled his team to climb back from a 10-point second-half deficit and seize control in the extra period. "They had guys fouling out [three players picked up their fifth personals in overtime, including Drexel's Evan Neisler and Jamie Harris], but the student section was awesome."
The Hawks - who committed 19 turnovers and were outrebounded, 45-34 - never would have made it to the 5-minute OT were it not for one of those twists of fate that can transform disaster into opportunity.
Drexel led, 60-57, with less than 20 seconds remaining when St. Joe's Garrett Williamson drove the lane, where his shot was swatted away by Leon Spencer (16 points, 12 rebounds), the 6-8 Dragons forward's third block of the night.
But the ball sailed into the hands of the Hawks' Darrin Govens, who drained a three-pointer with 14.6 seconds remaining to even the count. The few ticks that remained were enough for Drexel's Jamie Harris (20 points) to sink two free throws, Williamson to hit a pullup jumper and Harris to miss a desperation heave at the buzzer.
Suddenly a game that had for the most part been a comedy of errors began to assume dramatic qualities.
St. Joe's went ahead to stay, 69-67, when Todd O'Brien, the 6-11 transfer from Bucknell, rebounded a Govens miss and banked in a short turnaround jumper. That was when the wheels came off for Drexel, the Hawks scoring the last eight points to complete a 10-0 runout.
An intentional-foul call against the Dragons figured prominently in the breakaway, causing Flint, who had earlier been slapped with a technical foul, to look askance at the officials and the ceiling.
"They called an intentional foul. That was it. That was the game," Flint said of what turned into a three-point play by Govens with 30 seconds left, followed by two free throws by Govens only 7 seconds later. "They got a three-point play and the ball."
Govens led the Hawks (1-0) with 23 points and Idris Hilliard added 16, on 10-for-11 foul shooting (St. Joe's as a team was 33-for-42 from the line). But Martelli knows there are a lot of kinks to be worked out before his team hosts Holy Cross on Tuesday. Williamson (eight) and Govens (five) combined for 13 turnovers.
"That level of performance from the two of them won't be good enough," Martelli said.
Flint also has a lot to think about as the Dragons get ready for a Tuesday game at Niagara.
"We did some good things," he said. "But come on, it was the first game of the season. We got a lot more to go."
