St. Joseph's conquers Virginia Commonwealth for Atlantic 10 title

NEW YORK - Before the Atlantic 10 tournament, it was believed that St. Joseph's needed at least one win to keep its hopes for a bid to the NCAA tournament alive.

The Hawks went a number of gigantic steps better.

With all five starters playing 37 or more minutes Sunday, St. Joseph's defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 65-61, to win the Atlantic 10 championship at the Barclays Center.

The Hawks (24-9) earned the NCAA tournament automatic bid in winning their first A-10 title since 1997.

Senior forward Halil Kanacevic, who had 11 points, 14 rebounds and four assists, was named the A-10 tournament's most outstanding player.

"This award means something, but it means something because our team won," Kanacevic said. "I wouldn't have won this award without my teammates and it is as much their award as it is mine."

Kanacevic averaged 15.3 points and 14.3 rebounds in the wins over Dayton, St. Bonaventure and Virginia Commonwealth.

Langston Galloway, who scored 19 points and Ronald Roberts Jr., who had 15 points and 11 rebounds, were also on the all-tournament team.

Hawks freshman forward DeAndre' Bembry had 13 points, eight assists and one hellacious dunk, and point guard Chris Wilson scored seven points and committed just two turnovers in 38 minutes against the frenetic defense of the Rams, who fell to 26-8.

Even though they were playing their third game in three days, the teams did not give in to fatigue.

Hawks coach Phil Martelli said he rode his starters since they weren't in foul trouble.

"What the players remarked was that they were playing for a championship, so I had to give them the best chance to win a championship," Martelli said

Galloway gave the Hawks the lead for good on a three-pointer for a 57-54 advantage with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left.

"I knew we were having trouble trying to score, so I knew I wanted to keep it in my hands and make a play and I got a chance to make a play," Galloway said.

His basket began a 7-0 run that included a dunk by Roberts off an excellent feed from Bembry and two Galloway free throws.

Virgina Commonwealth sophomore guard Melvin Johnson, the A-10 sixth man of the year, missed the game with a left knee injury suffered in the semifinal win over George Washington. Still, VCU had plenty of quickness and the Hawks withstood the pressure, something that impressed the Rams.

"It is a credit to how bad they wanted it and you have got to give Galloway, Kanacevic, those guys credit," said VCU guard Rob Brandenberg, who scored 18 points.