St. Joes's basketball opens on Nov. 13 vs. Drexel

PHILADELPHIA - Saint Joseph's University men's basketball will begin a new era in 2009-10, with the opening of the Michael J. Hagan '85 Arena on November 13 against Drexel, highlighting the Hawks' schedule that was announced today.

The season opener culminates the two-year expansion and renovation of Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, which has been the home of the Hawks since 1949. In 2008-09, Saint Joseph's played all of its home games at The Palestra due to the construction. Hagan Arena will add approximately 1,000 seats to stretch capacity to 4,200, while providing numerous other amenities that were not available in the Fieldhouse.

The Hawks will open the year at Hagan Arena with back-to-back home games against Drexel (Nov. 13) and Holy Cross (Nov. 17).

This season's schedule also features eight games against teams that reached the 2009 NCAA Tournament, with a possibility of two more.

Saint Joseph's will make its second consecutive appearance in a high-level tournament at a tropical location when it participates in the Paradise Jam, from November 20-23 at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. T

he Hawks, who played in the EA Sports Maui Invitational last season, will face Boston College in the opener on November 20, and will then meet either Purdue or South Dakota State in the next round. The remainder of the field consists of DePaul, East Carolina, Northern Iowa and Tennessee.

Other non-conference home games will be against Lehigh (Dec. 20), Princeton (Jan. 2) and Towson (January 18) , while the contest with rival Villanova will be played at The Palestra on December 9. The Hawks will go on the road to face Rider (Nov. 30), Cornell (Dec. 6), Minnesota (Dec. 12), Siena (Dec. 29) and Penn (Jan. 25).

SJU opens play in the Atlantic 10 against defending conference champion Temple on January 6 at the Liacouras Center. The Hawks' first A-10 game in Hagan Arena will be against Fordham on January 9.

The remainder of the home conference schedule consists of Dayton (Jan. 23), Massachusetts (Jan. 27), Richmond (Feb. 3), St. Bonaventure (Feb. 6) and Saint Louis (Feb. 9). The Hawks will also host city rival Temple (Feb. 20) and close out the regular season hosting La Salle (March 6).

Saint Joseph's will go on the road to play conference foes Rhode Island (Jan. 13), St. Bonaventure (Jan. 16), Duquesne (Jan. 31), Massachusetts (Feb. 14), Xavier (Feb. 17), Charlotte (Feb. 24) and George Washington (March 3).

This year will begin a new format for the Atlantic 10 Championship. The top 12 teams will qualify for the Championship; however the first round games will be hosted on the campuses of teams seeded #5, #6, #7, and #8 on Tuesday, March 9.

The Championship then shifts to Boardwalk Hall as the top four seeded teams will again receive a bye into the quarterfinal round, scheduled for Friday, March 12. Semifinal action will take place on Saturday, March 13, with the Championship game held on Sunday, March 14, and televised live at 1:00 p.m. on CBS Sports for the first time in A-10 history.

Sixers to take look at Kansas' Arthur

The Sixers are bringing in four more players to look at on Tuesday in preparation for the NBA Draft. Kansas' Darrell Arthur, a player that a lot of mock drafts have going to the Sixers at 16, is the most notable player that will be on hand.

Also invited were Drexel's Frank Elegar, St. Joe's Rob Ferguson and Alexis Ajinca of France.

EliteXC announces undercard for Prudential Center

By John McMullen

(The Phanatic Magazine) - There will be a distinct Philadelphia flavor to the six announced undercard bouts that will precede the first-ever mixed martial arts event shown live on network television Saturday, May 31, at the Prudential Center.

Philadelphia area fighters Wilson Reis (3-0), Matt Makowski (2-0), Jim Bova (3-0), Zach Makovsky (3-1) and Mike Groves (0-1) are scheduled for the undercard.

The 140-pound Reis, who takes on Justin Robbins, has been totally dominant in his brief career, always appearing to be a class or two above his opponent.

In a fight that got off to a wild start, Reis won his EliteXC debut with a second-round submission (rear naked choke) over Makovsky on January 25, in Atlantic City.

A fast-rising featherweight, Reis is only 23 but already is a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu. The world class grappler made Makovsky, a former Division I wrestler, look pedestrian in what was expected to be a close fight.

The popular Nick Serra (4-2), the younger brother of former UFC middleweight king Matt Serra and the second American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt under Renzo Gracie, will be opposed by Makowski in a 170-pound scrap.

A submission specialist, all four of Serra’s victories have been via tap out. In his last start, he submitted (armbar) Mike Varner in the second round on June 23 of last year in Atlantic City.

Makowski has compiled an outstanding record in Muay Thai and is considered fundamentally sound.

In his most recent outing, Makowski showed a good ground game to go with his striking en route to registering an excellent 4:01, first-round submission (rear naked choke) over Muay Thai specialist Joe Schilling on January 25, in Atlantic City.

Chris Liguori, a one-time middleweight, who now competes at 155-160 takes on the promising Bova, who, like Liguori, signed recently with EliteXC.

Bova trains out of Minersville, Penn. and in his last start scored a 3:59, first-round submission (rear naked choke) over Mark Getto. ova has won all three of his fights by submission.

Makovsky meets Andre Soares of New Jersey at 135 pounds and Groves (0-1) will take on Joe Sampieri (0-2) of Manhattan.

Makovsky, who suffered his first loss, to Reis, in his last start, is a former Division I wrestler from Drexel and his 72 victories rank 18th on the all-time Drexel win list.

Drexel's consolation prize

Drexel will play host to North Carolina State in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday night. The game will be telecast live on ESPNU beginning at 8 p.m. (et)