Charlie Brown and Lorenzo Edwards carry St. Joseph’s past UMass, 64-62

Charlie Brown scored 20 points, and sophomore Lorenzo Edwards scored a career-high 14 as St. Joseph’s held off Massachusetts, 64-62, on Saturday in Atlantic 10 action at Hagan Arena. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Hawks.

Brown celebrated his 22nd birthday with his 10th 20-plus-point game of the season, and Edwards made four of eight shots to reach his personal best. Freshman Jared Bynum scored 10 for the Hawks, and Taylor Funk grabbed 12 rebounds.

Tied at 54, the Hawks (10-12; 3-6 A-10) used a decisive 6-0 run, with four points from Brown, to go up, 60-54, with 1 minute, 40 seconds to play. After a dunk by Rashaan Holloway with 27 second left brought UMass (8-13, 1-8) to within 61-59, Brown hit a free throw, and Edwards finished it off with two foul shots with four seconds left. UMass’ Keon Clergeot connected on a three-pointer with one second left to provide the final margin.

“We were down five or six in the second half, and we stayed with it,” Hawks coach Phil Martelli said. "The zone was good to us. We had some nice hustle plays and didn’t get hurt on the glass. But the ball is still not going in.”

The Hawks, who made 33.9 percent of their shots from the field (19-for-56), turned in a 22-for-27 effort from the foul line, which was their most free throws made since they had 36 in a win over Illinois-Chicago on Nov. 29.

Holloway had a career-high 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting to go with 12 rebounds to lead UMass. Curtis Cobb added 13 points, and Clergeot scored 11 for the Minutemen. UMass’ leading scorer, Luwane Pipkins, played just 16 minutes after leaving the game with an injury.

St. Joseph’s plays at La Salle on Tuesday, which counts as both an Atlantic 10 and a Big 5 contest.