The Saint Joseph’s Hawks (15-10, 5-5 A-10) faced a strong opponent in their home stadium, Hagan Arena, on Wednesday night. The Saint Louis Billikens (19-5, 7-3 A-10) secured their second place spot in the tightly contested A-10 with a 72-60 win over St. Joe’s. St. Louis was nationally ranked earlier this year, and is making a case to return to that elite group of twenty-five. The Billikens got off to a quick start, leading 12-0 at the 14:42 mark in the first half. To start off the game, Saint Joe’s half court offense was struggling and failed to get any good looks inside, resulting in poor last second desperation shots. Nearing the end of the first half, the Hawks carried momentum off a few clutch three-pointers, gained a 23-21 lead. This lead was short lived and they entered the half down two points.
The second half consisted of frustrating turnovers and wasted opportunities. Halil Kanacevic, Hawk’s sophomore power forward, accounted for 6 turnovers. The team in total turned the ball over 17 times. The Billikens controlled the flow of the second half and every time the Hawks seemed to get within striking distance, SLU would get a stop or make a key bucket. The Hawk’s efforts eventually proved futile when they began to foul with a minute remaining. St. Louis won by 12 points, and gave their team a confidence booster heading into a huge A-10 matchup against La Salle later this week.
