La Salle and St. Joe’s face off before Super Bowl

It’s rather fitting that two Philadelphia teams would square off just one day before the Super Bowl. Both teams may be rooting for the Eagles to take the title of best football team in the country, but there was certainly no love lost battling on the basketball court.

The La Salle Explorers came out on top over St. Joe’s. After a thrilling ending, the Explorers took down the Hawks, 81-78 at the conclusion of the Feb. 3 conference matchup.

St. Joe’s extended their losing streak to four and fell to 4-6 in Atlantic 10 play, and a struggling La Salle got the win it needed after a disappointing loss to conference opponent Davidson University. The Explorers are now 4-6 in the A-10.

Senior Shavar Newkirk shined for the Hawks, scoring 30 of the team’s 78 points. Senior James Demery chipped in with 20, and redshirt sophomore Pierfrancesco Oliva added 10. Demery led the team with seven rebounds after an ankle injury that left him out of the game against Saint Louis University on Jan. 31 where the Hawks fell 60-59.

Despite the loss, Newkirk scored his 1000th point in the second half. He is the 55th player in program history to surpass this milestone. The senior was more concerned about his team.

“I rate my performance on winning and right now were losing,” Newkirk said.

The game started off promising for the Hawks when they led for all but the first five minutes of the first half. Newkirk scored his first of a career high five three-pointers to tie the score at 5-5, and the team took off from there. St. Joe’s led by 13 with three minutes left in the first half, but La Salle cut the lead to five by the end of the first half, where the Hawks led 43-38.

The Explorers started the half off strong with an explosive dunk by B.J. Johnson to get the momentum for the rest of the game going. La Salle continued to cut the lead until a Jamir Moultrie three-pointer put them ahead of St. Joe’s with 10 minutes left to play.

“The game turned at the free throw line,” Newkirk said. “We went 15-25 in the second half; we got them in one and one early and just couldn’t capitalize.”

A free throw by Oliva tied up the game with just over one minute left in the game, but La Salle was able to pull ahead to win the game, 81-78.

The Hawks struggled with free throws, going 18-31 from the line and had 15 turnovers. Head coach Phil Martelli is upset with the team’s consistent mistakes in free throws and turnovers.

“I’m tired of saying it, but this is a man in the mirror,” Martelli said.

This matchup against La Salle does not count as a Big 5 game. The teams will face each other again on March 3 at Hagan Arena, where they will battle it out for Big 5 bragging rights.

The Hawks’ next conference challenge will come from the University of Massachusetts at Hagan Arena on Feb. 10.