St. Joseph’s falls to UMass on last-second basket

AMHERST, MASS. -- St. Joseph’s led UMass from the opening tip and never gave up the lead -- until a Minutemen basket with less than 3 seconds remaining cost the Hawks the lead and the game.

Carl Pierre’s short jumper with 2.7 seconds remaining lifted UMass to an 80-79 win over the Hawks on Saturday afternoon at the Mullins Center. The loss was St. Joe’s third in a row.

The Hawks inbounded at halfcourt with 2.3 seconds to go, but Charlie Brown’s three-point attempt as time expired was off the mark.

Pierre’s basket was UMass’ only advantage, as St. Joseph’s (11-16, 4-10 Atlantic 10) held a double-figure lead from late in the first half until nine minutes remaining in the game. With SJU leading, 68-54, UMass (10-17, 3-11) went on a 13-2 run that ended in back-to-back threes by Pierre, to pull the Minutemen within 70-67 at 7:07.

Baskets by Chris Clover and Taylor Funk pushed the Hawks’ lead back up to eight, 75-67, with five minutes to play, but UMass capitalized on three missed three-point attempts by the Hawks with six straight points to cut its deficit to 75-73 with 2:47 to go.

Fresh Kimble hit a pair of free throws at 2:25 to push St. Joe’s lead to four, and two more again with 27 seconds left to give the Hawks a 79-75 lead. But Pierre pulled UMass to with 79-78 on a three-pointer with 17 seconds left. A Hawks turnover at with 12.8 seconds remaining set up Pierre’s game-winning shot.

“I have to do more for them to figure out a way, so they don’t think something is going to happen," Hawks coach Phil Martelli said. "That’s the look in some of our eyes – that something bad’s going to happen.”

Six Hawks scored double figures for the first time all season, led by Clover with 19 points. Kimble scored 14 points in his first game since Jan. 12, after missing 10 games with a fractured hand. Lorenzo Edwards and Jared Bynum had 12 points apiece, and Brown and Funk scored 11 each.

Jonathan Laurent had a game-high 24 points for UMass with Pierre adding 21.

Saint Joseph’s had its best shooting half of the season in the first, connecting on season highs of 66.7 percent (18-for-27) from the field and 69.2 percent (9-for-13) from three-point range.

Conversely in the second half, St. Joe’s, which grew its lead to 57-36 only 30 seconds into the second half, shot only 28.6 percent from the floor, while UMass connected on 59 percent.

“A tough one to swallow," Martelli said. "They shot 59 percent in the second half and we didn’t dig our feet in to do anything to prevent the ball from going in. They had 23 assists and we had seven turnovers in the second half.”

The Hawks hit five of their first six shots to take an early 11-4 lead. They extended it to 23-12, shooting 8-for-9 and capping the run with a three-pointer from Bynum at 13:02.

Two three-pointers from Clover and one from Funk helped St. Joe’s finish the first half on a 13-5 run and take a 54-37 lead into intermission.

The Hawks will play their third straight road game on Wednesday when they visit Fordham for a 9 p.m. start.