St. Joe's cools off La Salle, 70-66, at the Palestra

Perhaps it's too early to count out St. Joseph's.

Thanks to Saturday's 70-66 victory over La Salle, the Hawks sit a game and a half behind first-place Temple in the Atlantic 10 standings.

Yes, this is the same St. Joseph's (15-9, 5-4 A-10, 2-1 Big Five) team that lost four of five games heading into matchups at Richmond and against the Explorers at the Palestra.

But after back-to-back victories, the Hawks are in the mix for a conference title.

"This game was big today," said St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli, whose team knocked La Salle (17-7, 6-3, 1-2) out of first place in the A-10. "Wednesday against [Richmond] was the turnaround."

If so, then Saturday was a validation that things are turned around.

La Salle was arguably the hottest team in the A-10. The Explorers had won four straight and 10 of their previous 12 games prior to Saturday.

But the Hawks' Halil Kanacevic, C.J. Aiken and Langston Galloway made sure La Salle didn't stay hot.

Thanks for a 6-0 run, the Explorers pulled the gap to 67-66 with 11 seconds remaining.

Aiken was fouled two seconds later. The 6-foot-9 sophomore center converted a pair of foul shots to give St. Joseph's a three-point cushion.

Then Galloway grabbed a defensive rebound on Earl Pettis' missed three-point attempt with two seconds left.

After being fouled by Devon White, Galloway clinched the game with a foul shot in the closing second.

But on this day, Kanacevic was the Hawks' star.

"He just wasn't big, he was good," La Salle coach John Giannini said of the 6-8, 260-pound sophomore forward.

Kanacevic had career highs of 18 points and 15 rebounds to go with four assists, two blocks and two steals.

Shooting 7 for 10, the Hofstra transfer took advantage of La Salle's four-guard lineup in the post. And he still dominated when the Explorers went to a bigger front court.

"Statistically, I had a good game, but numbers are numbers," Kanacevic said. "I liked the way I played and the team played honestly. The flow and the motion, especially against La Salle, the No. 1 team in the A-10 right now, or were, how we played was great.

"I played good. I played off my teammates. They got me the ball where I can score. And rebounding, the ball falls your way sometimes."

Carl Jones added 13 points.

Pettis led the Explorers with 17, but he made just 6 of 18 shots from the floor.