Kimble secures tight win over cross-town rival La Salle with game-winning shot
The Saint Joseph’s University men’s basketball team faced off against the La Salle University Explorers on Jan. 28. The game did not count towards the Big 5 standings, however, as the Hawks will travel to La Salle on Feb. 18.
Sophomore Chris Clover got off to a promising start for the Hawks, scoring 8 of his team’s first 12 points. Just under nine minutes into the game, he set a new career high when he knocked down a 3-pointer to bring his point total up to 13.
“At the one end of the floor, he [Clover] was good,” Head Coach Phil Martelli said. “On the other end of the floor, he was their best player. So, there was confidence. He has been practicing better. But you have to play, and now we get to the next part with him, which is defense. He did not do a very good job defensively, but he shot with confidence. That’s all I want. I just want somebody to step up, like they think the ball is going in.”
Shortly thereafter, sophomore Lamarr Kimble hit another three and propelled St. Joe’s to a 25-16 lead. The deficit would remain fairly consistent for the remainder of the first half, and the Hawks carried a 37-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, the Explorers slowly closed the gap and worked their way back into the game. With just under twelve minutes remaining, they took their first lead at 50-49. La Salle held onto the lead for a few minutes until freshman Charlie Brown scored 5 consecutive points and tied the game at 65-65.
With about one minute to go, junior James Demery had an opportunity to tie the game at the free throw line, but could only convert one of two foul shots, leading St. Joes to trail by a score of 72-71. But, the defense stopped the Explorers on the other end of the court and the Hawks regained possession. With 40 seconds left in the game, St. Joe’s called a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Hawks inbounded the ball to Kimble who drove to the right elbow and pulled up for what turned out to be the game-winning jump shot. The basket gave St. Joe’s a 73-72 lead and the victory, ending their four-game Atlantic 10 losing streak.
Kimble finished the game with 14 points. Clover contributed a career-high 21 points, shooting 8-11 from the floor and 4-5 from beyond the arc. He also collected a personal best with 5 assists. Demery gathered 13 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double this season. Brown totaled 15 points with 10 of them occurring in the final ten minutes of the game. Junior Jai Williams also reached two career highs with 8 rebounds in 25 minutes.
The Hawks shot just 56 percent (14-25) from the free throw line against the Explorers. Foul shots have been an issue for St. Joe’s all season. They’ve converted just 64.8 percent of their free throws this year.
“It’s awful,” Martelli said. “It really is. We shoot as many as we’ve always shot. We do two segments of it in practice. The ones that get me are when we miss two in a row. When you miss two in a row, you’re not zeroed in. But come tomorrow, they’ll be all spread out over there, and there will be no angst. We have to become purposeful. That’s part of the fouling. We came back from St. Bonaventure and we were 7-of-14 from the foul line. And you should lose a Division I game with that.”
Martelli attributed partial credit for the win to the support of the Hawks student section and others that were in attendance.
“I’m really appreciative of the crowd,” he said. “We were the home team and the ball didn’t go in for them on the last play.”
The win was the Hawks’ tenth this season, bringing their overall winning percentage to .500. In the A-10, though, St. Joe’s still sits at 3-5, which places them right in the middle of the conference standings.
The Hawks will take the court again when they host the Fordham University Rams on Feb. 4 at 6 p.m.
