Brooklyn, NY -- Ronald Roberts Jr. and Halil Kanacevic both posted double-doubles and Saint Joseph's captured its first Atlantic 10 Tournament title since 1997 with a 65-61 win over No. 23 VCU on Sunday.
Roberts scored 15 points with 11 rebounds and Kanacevic had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Langston Galloway paced the Hawks (24-9) with 19 points, including a 3-pointer that broke a 54-54 tie with 2 1/2 minutes remaining and gave them the lead for good.
DeAndre Bembry added 13 points and Saint Joe's assured itself a return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008, when it lost to Oklahoma in the first round. The Jesuit institution was given a 10-seed and squares off against UConn, Should Phil Martelli's boys advance, a possible matchup with Holy War rival Villanova looms -- provided the second-seeded Wildcats get past 15th-seed Milwaukee.
The Hawks were seen as a bubble team entering the A-10 tournament but likely had already locked up at least an at-large bid before Sunday with wins over Dayton and St. Bonaventure.
Rob Brandenburg had 18 points and Treveon Graham scored 15 for the Rams (26-8), who will make the NCAA Tournament despite the loss.
They played without A-10 Sixth Man of the Year Melvin Johnson, who suffered a knee injury early in VCU's semifinal win over George Washington.
Saint Joseph's shot 24-of-50 from the field against VCU's vaunted "Havoc" defense and held the Rams to just 24-of-65 shooting.
Brandenburg tied the score at 35-35 with a 3-pointer 4 1/2 minutes into the second half and Graham's three gave the Rams their first lead of the game at 43-40.
A tight battle ensued. VCU pushed its advantage to 48-42, but Kanacevic scored four straight after a Bembry jumper to tie it.
Bembry's three-point play was part of an 11-2 Hawks run late in the game that gave them a 61-54 lead with under a minute left.
After Graham nailed a trey to make it a one possession game with 22 seconds left, Bembry then split a pair of free throws to push the Saint Joe's lead to four.
Galloway missed two free throws with seven seconds remaining, but Roberts came up with a block on Graham at the other end and the Hawks held on.
Earlier, they jumped out to an 11-4 lead on a Roberts dunk, but VCU answered with seven straight to tie the game with just under 11 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half. Galloway then buried back-to-back 3-pointers as part of a 10-2 spurt that Roberts capped with another dunk.
The Rams cut the deficit to 28-24 at the half after Juvonte Reddic's jumper with over a minute left.
Notes: VCU's reserves outscored the Saint Joe's bench 12-0, with Papa Ndao attempting the only shot for a Hawks non-starter ... The Hawks out-rebounded the Rams 40-38 ... Saint Joe's had 12 turnovers compared to VCU's five ... The Hawks shot 11-of-20 from the free throw line and the Rams went 8-of-15.
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