St. Joseph's looks ahead to the Bonnies

St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli has demonstrated a keen focus as the Hawks extended their season-high winning streak to five games. It's a focus he expects his team to have Saturday, when the streaking Hawks (20-7, 10-3 Atlantic Ten) play at St. Bonaventure (16-12, 6-8).

Shortly after the Hawks notched their 20th win Monday with a 79-53 rout of Dayton (ending the Flyers' six-game winning streak), Martelli quickly dismissed the performance - almost discounting it - and turned his attention to the Bonnies.

"This win gets us to 20 wins," Martelli said of the Hawks, winners of 20 games for the first time since the 2007-08 season. "We are not in anything, and we are not out of anything. On Saturday, we are going to play a game, and I only have energy for preparing our team."

This is the eighth 20-win season Martelli has logged as St. Joe's coach.

The Hawks have turned into the best story in city basketball. They have found chemistry and cohesion along the way to winning 16 of their last 19 games. Their 10 conference wins represent the most since they went 14-2 in 2004-05.

A win against St. Bonaventure - on a two-game losing streak following Tuesday's 75-67 loss to La Salle - would give the Hawks their longest winning streak since a seven-win stretch in 2008-09.

The Bonnies started the season hot, winning 11 of their first 15 games. After winning a season-high four games early this year, however, things have turned sour for the Western New York team, which has dropped eight of its last 13 games.

The Bonnies have struggled in conference play, but they have been in most of their games. The loss to La Salle marked their sixth loss in the last eight conference games in which they had a lead or a tie in the final three minutes.

Senior guard Mathew Wright leads the Bonnies in scoring (16.1). Seven-foot junior center Youssou Ndoye averages 10 points and leads the Bonnies in rebounding (5.6) and blocks (2.3).

Saturday

Houston (14-14, 6-9 American Athletic) at Temple (7-20, 2-13) 9 p.m ESPNU/Watch ESPN: Losers of 15 of their last 18, the Owls have gone 1-4 in their last five games, all against ranked opponents. Houston is coming off a 77-68 upset of No. 21 Memphis.

La Salle (13-14, 5-8 Atlantic Ten) at Fordham (9-17, 2-11) 5 p.m.: After ending its longest losing streak of the season (five games), La Salle looks to win back-to-back games for the first time in almost six weeks. The Rams own the worst record in the conference and have lost five straight.

Yale (14-10, 8-2 Ivy) at Penn (7-16, 4-5) 7 p.m.: The Bulldogs went into Friday's game with Princeton having won seven of their last eight. Penn was one of those victims, falling 69-54 on Feb. 14.

Drexel (16-12, 8-7 Colonial Athletic Association) at Northeastern (9-20, 6-9) 1 p .m.: Winners of three of their last four, the Dragons, assured of the fourth seed in the CAA tournament, look to close the regular season on a high note. Forward Scott Eatherton leads Northeastern in scoring (15.7) and rebounding (10.0).

Sunday

Marquette (17-11, 9-6 Big East) at Villanova (25-3, 13-2) 2 p.m. CBS3: The Wildcats have matched Villanova's regular-season record of 25 wins. After the matchup with Marquette, they will have games with Georgetown and DePaul. James Bell is six points shy of 1,000 for his career.

- John N. MitchellEndText