Hawks humbled by No. 13 Gonzaga

SPOKANE, Wash. – Saint Joseph's suffered the most lopsided men's basketball loss in school history Wednesday evening, but coach Phil Martelli almost managed a smile afterwards.

"Tomorrow's my 38th wedding anniversary," Martelli said. "It's a hell of a gift."

The young Hawks sank just 3 of 28 field-goal attempts (10.7 percent) in the first half, trailed 48-10 at intermission and fell 94-42 to 13th-ranked Gonzaga in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The game ended early Thursday morning EST.

The Bulldogs shot 56.9 percent from the field, including 45.5 percent on 3-pointers, and held the Hawks to 25.9 percent shooting (11.1 on 3-pointers). Gonzaga outrebounded Saint Joseph's 54-26 and had a 21-4 advantage in assists.

"That was a special performance," Martelli said. "I actually apologized to Mark (Gonzaga coach Mark Few), because we didn't really make them do anything."

"It happened," Saint Joseph's co-captain DeAndre' Bembry said in a somber dressing room, "so we've just got to deal with it, take it like a man. We'll just try to learn from it."

Senior guard Gary Bell Jr. sank 5 of 7 shots from 3-point range and led five Bulldogs in double figures with 18 points. All of Bell's points came in the first half, as Bell and Gonzaga's other starters played sparingly after halftime.

Martelli said Gonzaga (3-0) should be ranked higher than 13th.

"We know that we're really good," Gonzaga guard Kyle Dranginis said. "We just have to perform and execute, and we did that again tonight."

Prior to Wednesday's 52-point defeat, the most lopsided loss in Saint Joseph's history was a 40-point defeat (91-51) against second-ranked Kansas on Nov. 23, 2004. The Hawks had not scored less than 42 points since a 56-39 loss to Villanova on Feb. 6, 2006. Saint Joseph's lost 50-42 to Temple on Feb. 17, 1998.

Martelli said he has "grave concern" about his team's offense. The Hawks (1-2) are averaging 50.3 points and shooting 33.5 percent from the floor.

Reserve guard Aaron Brown, a junior transfer from West Virginia, led Saint Joseph's with 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Bembry, a key player for the Hawks, went 0 for 9 from the floor in the first half and finished with five points on 2-for-13 shooting. Brown and Bembry did not score until the second half before a sellout crowd of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Vermont visits Saint Joseph's at 7 p.m. Saturday.