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Explorers rip depleted Hawks

St. Joseph's had not won a game in February. La Salle had not won a Big Five game in two years. Even though the Hawks had beaten the Explorers by a point exactly three weeks before, the Saturday afternoon game at Gola Arena was not a fair fight.

St. Joseph's had not won a game in February. La Salle had not won a Big Five game in two years. Even though the Hawks had beaten the Explorers by a point exactly three weeks before, the Saturday afternoon game at Gola Arena was not a fair fight.

That was obvious during warm-ups, when the Hawks' two point guards, Shavar Newkirk and Lamarr Kimble, were seated side by side on the bench, Newkirk with his left knee in a brace, Kimble with his left foot in a cast, a wheeled vehicle nearby. The Explorers, with point guard Pookie Powell back for a second consecutive game after missing six with a leg injury, were at full strength.

Though they had lost five straight and 9 of 11, the Hawks had been competitive most every game, losing six by single digits. This was the afternoon when it all came crashing down.

La Salle led from the start, made seven three-point shots before the Hawks made any, opened up a 25-point lead after 16 minutes, and won, 83-68.

It was 13-3, 29-10, and 41-16. The Hawks (10-16, 3-11 Atlantic Ten, 1-3 Big Five) missed 14 of their first 17 shots. When freshman Charlie Brown starts the game 0 for 10, your two best players are out for the season, and you get outscored 36-6 from the arc, you have very little chance.

"If you say one team makes 12 threes and the other team makes two, then I would say the team with 12 wins,'' St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli said. "That's basically the story.''

La Salle (14-11, 8-6, 1-3) got a near-perfect first half from point guard Amar Stukes (5 for 6, 2 for 2 from three, 3 for 3 from the foul line, 3 assists, no turnovers) on its way to a 44-26 lead at the break. Stukes finished with 15 points and six assists. Jordan Price had 18 points and five assists, B.J. Johnson 18 points and nine rebounds.

"Just playing confident,'' Stukes said. "I knew that they were going to sag off me. That's how they always play me.''

La Salle coach John Giannini understood perfectly what went down.

"The healthier team won,'' he said.

And he finally had all his players back.

"Some teams like Villanova in the Big East and Dayton in the A-10 seem to be able to absorb injuries,'' Giannini said. "Most of the rest of us, it affects us. You'd like to say next man up. That's not easy for a majority of teams.''

La Salle shot 60 percent in the second half, 52.7 percent for the game. St. Joe's got 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists from James Demery on his 22nd birthday. The Hawks trailed, 69-42, with 10 minutes left. Five minutes later, it was 71-60. It got no closer.

On a day La Salle honored its 1952 NIT champions (Tom Gola was a freshman) and its 1987 NIT runner-ups (with freshman Lionel Simmons), three 1952 players and five 1987 players along with coach Speedy Morris were there to see this offensively talented La Salle team get a perfect forum to show off its skills. And St. Joe's is one game closer to the end of a season that was promising when the conference season began but now must seem as if it will never end.