Philadelphia, PA (The Phanatic Magazine) - Despite the loss of two talented players, the St. Joseph's Hawks are expected to fly near the top of the Atlantic 10 this season and Phil Martelli's club got things started on a positive note Friday when they topped Rider, 69-57, at the Big House in South Philly.
Senior forward Ahmad Nivens was dominant inside, making his first eight shots and finishing with 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Nivins added 13 rebounds while his running mate in the frontcourt, Idris Hilliard, had eight points and was 4-of-4 from the floor.
Junior guard Darrin Govens of Chester had 19 points while Philadelphia's Tasheed Carr had eight.
The game was the Hawks first ever at the Wachovia Center as they embark on a season spent off campus. The Palestra will be SJU's "home away from home" this season because of the school's ongoing Fieldhouse Expansion and Renovation project. The Hawks will return to campus in 2009-10 to the Michael J. Hagan `85 Arena.
SJU lost a great deal of scoring and rebounding with the graduation of Pat Calathes and Rob Ferguson. Calathes, who is now playing professional ball for the Greek League club Maroussi, led the Hawks with 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last season, while Ferguson averaged 11.9 points and 4.8 boards.
But that's nothing compared to what the Broncs, a Trenton area University that won the MAAC last season, lost when Jason Thompson was picked by the Sacramento Kings with the 12th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft.
Thompson, a Mt. Laurel, NJ native, is already proving his worth in the pros, scoring 12.0 points and pulling down 7.0 rebounds in his first nine games as an NBA player. Thompson also dropped 17 points during his homecoming against the Sixers on November 3.
His younger brother, Ryan, led the Broncs in scoring with 19 points. Mike Ringgold chipped in with 10.
St. Joe's took control of a tight game with an 12-1 run to open the final frame. Nivins and Hilliard each had a pair of buckets in the spurt to give the Hawks a comfortable 42-31 edge.
Nivins continued to dominate from there. The big men deposited a conventional three-point play to expand SJU's lead to 14 points, 51-37, with about 13 1/2 minutes on the clock.
The Broncs managed to regroup and climb within 10, 63-53, when Thompson drained a three with 4:48 remaining,
A little over a minute later the Broncs climbed a little closer when Thompson hit both ends of a 1-and-1.
A Hilliard putback with 2:23 on the clock stemmed the tide for the Hawks and Nivins finally put things away with a slam off the pick-and-roll to put SJU up 67-55 with 1 1/2 minutes remaining.
Rider jumped all over SJU at the opening tip, running off a 9-0 spurt to start the game. Ringgold sandwiched the burst with a pair of buckets and forced Martelli to use a timeout to stem the tide.
Coming out of the stoppage, the Hawks finally got the ball down low to Nivins. The Jersey City, NJ native drew contact and hit a pair of free throws to get SJU on the scoreboard for the first time with 16:35 left in the opening half.
The Hawks chipped away from there and finally evened things at 18-18 when Nivins got loose inside with just under nine minutes to go in the first.
Less than a minute later a pair of Govens free throws put St. Joseph's up for the first time.
Things remained tight from there, however, and the teams went into the locker room tied at 30.
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