By Andrew Scurria
Senior Sports Editor
scurria@sas.upenn.edu
The scoreboard told the story of a new Saint Joseph's team, and Phil Martelli found an explanation in the simplest of places. His Hawks were out for blood.
And not without reason. After suffering a 56-39 embarrassment against archrival Villanova on Tuesday, the Hawks walked into the Palestra Saturday afternoon with a collective chip on their shoulders. In a 72-50 win over La Salle, they found a perfect way to express it.
"I think they maybe thought the world was going to fall in on them" after the Villanova game, Martelli said. Junior forward Pat Calathes, who led all scorers with 16 points, wasn't going to argue.
"If we'd lost this game," Calathes said, "it would have been bad."
It would have been bad on the standings as well as the players. As of Sunday, the win had lifted St. Joe's into a tie for fourth in the Atlantic 10 after Duquesne, George Washington and Fordham all lost. St. Joe's will also end up with sole possession of second place in this year's Big 5 standings, behind 4-0 Villanova.
"There was more talk in the locker room about playing with an attitude," Martelli said. "There was a more urgent message."
And if the players received catharsis from the win, for the red-clad side of the Palestra it was just a feel-good day.
After a hot start, St. Joe's ensured the win with an efficient offense that pounded inside relentlessly and produced just enough three-pointers to keep La Salle honest.
The Explorers started with two offensive boards, a steal and a dunk in the first two minutes, when the game was tied at four.
St. Joe's answered the only way they knew how.
The Hawks relied on their bread-and-butter inside play to the tune of 12 offensive rebounds, compared to just 16 defensive boards for La Salle. Ahmad Nivins had 14 points and Rob Ferguson grabbed six rebounds in 27 minutes for the Hawks.
Meanwhile, La Salle tried in the first half to shoot over the Hawks' 2-3 zone, and failing that, attempted to barge right through it. Neither ploy worked to free up the Explorer's shooters, with junior guard Darnell Harris especially shut down. La Salle hit just one of twelve three-point attempts, and Harris, a top scorer, had just three points.
"We took a chance on him, to be honest," Martelli said of the La Salle sniper. "We put [freshmen] Darrin Govens and Jawan [Carter] on him."
Like much of the season, it seemed to be a night owned by the St. Joe's newcomers, who scored 35 points in total.
The Hawks' reward was a second-place Big 5 finish in a year when Penn and Villanova were significant favorites.
For La Salle, the focus remained on the future.
"I have a lot of work to do, this game proves it," Explorers coach John Giannini said. "This is the first year of building."
