PHILADELPHIA - Carl Jones scored 17 points and Ronald Roberts had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Saint Joseph's (14-9; 5-5 A-10) to a 61-55 win over Richmond (14-11; 4-6) in Atlantic 10 action at Hagan Arena. The victory snaps a two-game losing streak for the Hawks.
Langston Galloway made just two shots on the night but his three-pointer with 22 seconds to play sealed the win for the Hawks, giving them a 60-55 cushion.
Down 36-27 at halftime, Saint Joseph's opened the second half with a fullcourt press and went on a 15-0 run. The Hawks took their first lead since the first half when Galloway picked up a steal and fed Roberts for a dunk at 16:39, putting SJU up 37-36. Roberts then hit a pair of free throws and Galloway hit a three to score the 15th point in a row for the Hawks, giving them a 42-36 lead. Richmond ended its scoreless streak at 13:35 when Wayne Sparrow hit a layup.
Richmond would fight back and tie the game, 51-51, on a basket by Darien Brothers at 6:11. The Hawks would go up by 57-52 after a pair of free throws from both Jones and Roberts. Anthony connected on a three-pointer at 1:24 to pull Richmond within 57-55, but after a few missed shots, Galloway stroked the three-pointer that iced the win.
The first half was close with six ties and the teams trading leads. But Richmond would use an 11-2 run in the final 3:01 of the half to take a 36-27 lead into intermission.
"The press at halftime was Chris Wilson's idea. We had been thinking about coming out in the second half of games showing a little something so that was Chris' idea," said Hawk coach Phil Martelli. "The other guy who gets credit here is Halil [Kanacevic]. Rather than worrying about his minutes, as we started to play better basketball in the second half, he was the one that said to let those guys ride it out."
"But it was the defense. You come out and hold a team to 19 points in the second half, shooting 24 percent. We got just about every assignment right in the second half and that's coming off as bad a play as you can possibly make at the end of the half," said the coach.
Saint Joseph's defense held Richmond to just 19 points and a 7-for-29 shooting effort in the second half.
C.J. Aiken added 10 points and four blocked shots for the Hawks.
Anthony had 13 points for Richmond while Cedrick Lindsay chipped in with 12.
Saint Joseph's goes for a share of the Big 5 title when it faces La Salle on Saturday afternoon at The Palestra at 1 p.m. The game will be nationally-televised on the NBC Sports Network.
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