St. Joe's waltzes into NIT semis with blowout of Rams

Call them selfish, but the St. Joseph's basketball team effectively ruined Rhode Island's amazing turnaround season in the NIT semifinals last night at the Palestra 76-59. Their goal? To earn the right to be one of only eight teams left in the nation that have to report to practice on Monday. "We're going to New York next week," an elated Hawks coach Phil Martelli said. "There's going to be eight teams in America practicing ball on Monday -- all eight of them heading to New York. We just happen to be in the other building. The whole basketball world will be watching our scrawny, scruffy group of guys who are going to be there." That 'other building' will be Madison Square Garden, home of the NIT Final Four. And the Hawks, who played about as scrawny as a sumo wrestler, will hope that the momentum they scrounged up will help them tackle a tough Alabama team Tuesday. After splitting a pair of close games in the Atlantic 10 regular season, both St. Joseph's and Rhode Island expected it to go down to the wire. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Most of the Hawks' numbers weren't fantastic, but the 51 rebounds, including 14 on the offensive end, put the cold-shooting Rams to shame. In addition, St. Joseph's played virtually impenetrable defense -- forcing the Rams to take 25 three-pointers, which constituted almost half their shots. What gave the Hawks the biggest boost, however, was their number of trips to the free throw line. Although both coaches were skeptical about the Atlantic Coast Conference officiating crew, St. Joe's was clearly the biggest beneficiary -- making 30 of their 43 attempts. Rhode Island took only 10 charity shots, and only two of which came in the first half. "There were a lot of fouls being called on us," Rhode Island coach Al Skinner said. "I think my team got a little bit frustrated with that. We would get fouls called on us that we thought were a little soft. But when we came down the other end of the court, we thought we were getting pushed and shoved -- the same types of fouls." The Rams looked like they were in control in the opening minutes of the first half. With 8:25 to go until halftime, Rhode Island star sophomore guard Tyson Wheeler hit a seven-foot running jumper, and capped off the three-point play from the charity stripe. That shot put the Rams' lead at 24-17. Rhode Island quickly found out what home court advantage means at the Palestra. The Hawks fans rallied in support of their team, and within a minute-and-a-half, St. Joe's had tied the game at 24. Meanwhile the Hawks' defense forced Rhode Island into perimeter jumpers that weren't falling. Actually, no shots dropped until the 2:40 mark of the half -- a span of almost seven minutes. At halftime, the Rams were happy with only an eight point deficit, 39-31. The second half was a continued nightmare for the Rams. St. Joe's stepped up to clean the glass on virtually every shot, and quick, efficient execution on offense boosted their lead to 15. The Rams had opportunities -- several wide-open shots -- but missed those, and some layups to boot. "The team went on a shooting drought," Wheeler said, who would finish the night with a game-high 24 points. "That was the main problem -- you've got to put the ball in the hole. We were getting good shots, the ball just wasn't falling in the hole, basically." When the slump was finally broken, it was too late. With 2:35 left to play, and the Rams down 21, Rhode Island finally came to life -- hitting a trifecta, getting a steal at half-court, then converting for another trey. The effort went to waste, however, as St. Joe's, led by their seniors, won handily. "I said all along that these seniors are really special," Martelli said. "And any success we have -- it's not the magical -- it has to do with the will and determination of three, four older guys who are very selfish. "They wanted to practice one more time, and I take that as a compliment. I can't tell you how elated I am to be able to practice with them tomorrow."