Saint Joseph's and La Salle paid their first visits of 2005 to West Philadelphia on Saturday, meeting at a critical juncture both in the Big 5 and the Atlantic 10 conference seasons. By the end of the day, both teams were going in vastly different directions.
On defense and on offense, the Hawks simply dominated their rivals from Olney Ave., routing the Explorers, 73-38.
La Salle (5-9, 0-3 Big 5, 1-2 Atlantic 10) was officially the home team, but did not enjoy any of the usual accompanying benefits. There were far more red-clad 'visiting' fans in the crowd of 6,812, and while the Hawks' student section was smaller than usual, the Explorers' was almost non-existent.
La Salle's offense wasn't much better. Star forward Steven Smith -- who sat out two practices prior to the game with the flu -- was limited to nine points on 4-of-20 shooting, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
"I really don't want to use the flu as an excuse," Smith said. "I just didn't get the job done tonight."
As a whole, the Explorers shot 12-of-51 from the field and a dreadful 1-of-14 from three-point range.
"They mixed up their defenders," Smith said of the Hawks (7-6, 1-0 Big 5, 4-0 A-10). "Plenty of times, I would come off a screen and I was looking at John Bryant, then I would come off another screen and I was looking at Pat Carroll, then I was looking at [Dave] Mallon."
When Carroll wasn't fighting through screens on defense, he was benefitting from them on offense. The Horsham, Pa., native scored a game-high 23 points and shot 6-of-10 from three-point range, one of which became a four-point play after he was fouled by Tabby Cunningham with 14:07 to go in the second half.
Carroll has been one of the best three-point shooters in the country over the last two seasons, and is starting to find his form again after a rough start to this year.
In his first three games, Carroll made only three of 20 long-range attempts, but in the last nine he is 33-for-70 -- 47.1 percent.
The Hawks were led on defense by center Dwayne Jones, who pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds, blocked two shots, and scored 11 points. Jones was named the Atlantic 10 and Big 5 Player of the Week yesterday, having also recorded a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds against Massachusetts.
None of the La Salle players recorded double figures in points on Saturday. Forward Mike St. John scored nine points, but fouled out with 6:33 to play.
"Our team confidence is growing, especially on the defensive end of the floor," St. Joe's head coach Phil Martelli said.
By the end of the game, Martelli was able to clear out his entire bench, and nine players ended up with points.
One of the biggest cheers of the afternoon came when freshman guard Pete Kathopoulis, an Upper Darby, Pa., native who walked on to the team at the beginning of this season, hit a jumper with 38 seconds to play.
"I give St. Joe's tremendous credit," La Salle head coach John Giannini said. "What happened today is we got exposed against a deeper, bigger, more veteran, more successful team."
