Hawks' comeback bid falls short

St. Joseph's nearly won a game at Hagan Arena on Saturday afternoon that it probably had little business being in, for any number of reasons.

The Hawks trailed Richmond, which is in first place in the Atlantic Ten, by 18 points early in the second half, after being down one late in the first. They were playing their fourth game without top scorer Shavar Newkirk, who's out for the season with a knee injury. And they were in the process of committing 17 turnovers. Should we mention all the backdoor cuts for layups they allowed?

Still, the deficit was only one with about 30 seconds to go. And freshman Charlie Brown, who had 13 second-half points after getting shut out in the opening 22 minutes, was putting up an open three from the right corner. The shot looked good when it left his hand, but the ball went in and out. After two Spiders free throws, James Demery had an uncontested triple from the top of the key that hit off iron.

The visitors left with a 70-66 victory.

When asked about the comeback, coach Phil Martelli wasn't in a buying mood.

"No, I don't buy any of that," he said, at times struggling to find the appropriate words to express his frustration. "It's just . . . I think you can always take things out of it, but only if you're better on Monday.

"There's nothing about 'nice effort.' It's not like we're in a celebratory mood here. We'll take tomorrow off. I have to look at it and figure it out."

Lamarr Kimble, who never came out, finished with 17 points on 5-for-13 shooting. He also had five turnovers. Brown went 4 for 16, and 2 for 8 from the arc. Nick Robinson had 14 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench, making 4 of 6 from the field.

The Hawks (8-8, 2-3), who have lost two straight (both at home) for the first time since November, will be at Massachusetts on Wednesday.

Richmond (11-6, 5-0), which is off to its best conference start since 1988-89 for Philly's Chris Mooney, got 21 points from ShawnDre Jones.

T.J. Cline, the son of WNBA great Nancy Leiberman, is the only player in the NCAA averaging 18 points, eight boards, and five assists. He had 15, 10, and 9 in 31 minutes after drawing his fourth foul with 9 minutes, 47 seconds to go. He also had seven turnovers. The Spiders were shooting 53 percent in the A-10 but shot 43 in this one.

"We just played," Martelli said. "It's not like we went into some kind of panic mode."

"I felt very confident," added Brown, describing the potential go-ahead trey. "I knew we needed it. There was nothing else to do but be confident. Everything was perfect.

"We had a lot of missed assignments. We can't play catch-up like that. We have to get better. Coach always talks about accountability. You've got to take that on yourself."