St. Joseph’s shoots past Fairfield

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - The St. Joseph's basketball team was put in its toughest position of this early season: It had to defend a late lead on the road against a veteran team.

And on Tuesday night, coach Phil Martelli's young Hawks showed their grit.

St. Joseph's pulled out its first road victory with a gutsy 60-51 win over Fairfield at the Arena at Harbor Yard. St. Joseph's improved to 2-2 while Fairfield fell to 1-3.

The game was part of the Philly Group Classic, which will conclude Friday at the Palestra with St. Joseph's facing Rutgers at 7:30 p.m. and Fairfield taking on Norfolk State.

Sophomore Carl Jones made the play of the day, notching a steal and then scoring on a layup to give the Hawks a 49-45 lead. Freshman Langston Galloway hit a tough bank shot with a defender in his face to stretch the advantage to 51-45.

Fairfield could not hit a big shot in the final minutes to put itself within striking range, and St. Joseph's hit its free throws, outscoring the Stags by 13-6 in the final minutes.

Galloway led the Hawks with 15 points, while freshman C.J. Aiken finished with 13.

St. Joseph's led Fairfield, 47-45, with 3 minutes, 7 seconds remaining in the game, taking its lead on a jumper by Aiken with four minutes remaining. Fairfield had several chances to take the lead but missed several open jumpers and St. Joseph's blocked two shots.

St. Joseph's used crafty defensive plays to erase Fairfield's six-point halftime lead just 1:30 into the second half. A pair of steals off inbound passes and the resulting baskets by senior Idris Hilliard and Galloway tied the score at 25.

The teams traded buckets over the next 14 minutes of the second half. St. Joseph's took its first lead of the game when Jones hit a pair of free throws to give the Hawks a 38-37 edge.

Galloway paced the Hawks with seven points in the first half, while Fairfield forward Warren Edney had nine points for the Stags.