Hawks plow past undermanned Explorers

THE HOME TEAM had lost 10 of 11. The visitors had won 11 of 12. Naturally, after 12 minutes late Sunday afternoon at Gola Arena, La Salle led Saint Joseph's, 19-8. The Hawks looked somewhere between uninterested and stuck in a giant snow drift.

It was, of course, a mirage. La Salle is doing the best it can with what it has, which isn't nearly enough. It was just a question of when the game was going to turn.

When it turned, it turned hard. The Hawks' defense suffocated the Explorers; they got out and began to run. The La Salle lead evaporated rapidly. It was all St. Joe's in the final eight minutes of the first half and the entire second half, the Hawks winning, 69-48.

"I thought the response at the defensive end at the end of the half was just terrific," said SJU coach Phil Martelli, who thought it was otherwise his team's worst half of the season.

Martelli said his team's MVPs were his two neighbors who arrived at his house Sunday with snow blowers after the blizzard. SJU did not practice Saturday because the coach was concerned about their safety and he could not have gotten to campus anyway.

"I had no chance of getting out of my driveway," Martelli said.

The Hawks (16-3, 5-1 Atlantic 10) got 30 points between their two stars, DeAndre' Bembry and Zeke Miles. They also got nine rebounds from Miles. Bembry filled up just about all the categories with six assists, four rebounds and four steals.

When his team was lethargic early, Bembry turned and said loud enough to be heard courtside: "Rebound, play defense, movement."

He also told his team, "If we play, they can't play with us."

Bembry is a captain and has no problems getting after people if necessary. He felt it necessary so he did it.

The Hawks don't shoot threes very well (3-for-19 Sunday), but they defend the arc very well, holding teams below 30 percent. They don't turn it over and they don't foul. It has been a winning formula all season.

SJU typically does not force many turnovers, but they really got after the undermanned Explorers, getting 10 steals and forcing 19 turnovers, outscoring La Salle 24-8 on points off turnovers, almost the score differential. Martelli said his assistant coaches suggested a change in how they were playing defense during the game, getting more aggressive while making everything difficult for La Salle.

"We had a lot of turnovers, a lot of real ugly plays," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "It was about as poorly as we played in a long time. Of course, St. Joe's defense has a lot to do with that. They've been holding people to 39 percent for the year. Whenever you see a defensive field-goal percentage in the 30s after 18 games, it's very impressive."

La Salle's Rohan Brown was back, playing for the first time since meniscus surgery a month ago. He gave the Explorers an extra man, but they were up against superior forces.

Brown gave La Salle seven players. The Hawks used eight before the end and outscored La Salle's bench, 25-5. Jordan Price had 14 for La Salle, but he also had six of the turnovers as the Hawks tilted their defense hard to him.

"They were really up on Jordan," Giannini said. "They knew who to get up into and did a great job of it."

St. Joe's is playing for the NCAA Tournament. La Salle (5-12, 1-5) is playing for next season when three terrific transfers become eligible.

SJU missed 12 of its first 15 shots before making seven of its last eight to end the first half leading 28-22. The Hawks shot 50 percent in the second half because they got the ball into the lane and to the rim, shooting 17-for-27 on twos.

Did Bembry see 16-3 in November?

"I saw 16-3 last year," he said with a laugh. "It was the complete opposite. That might just be my confidence. I like what I'm seeing, what the team is doing. We've got a very confident team right now. I feel like we can beat anybody we go against."

jerardd@phillynews.com

On Twitter: @DickJerardi