Jordan Hall’s 18 lead St. Joseph’s to win over Duquesne

Behind a dominant second-half from Jordan Hall, St. Joseph’s defeated Duquesne, 72-61, in an Atlantic 10 game Wednesday night at Hagan Arena.

Although the Hawks (9-10, 3-5 Atlantic 10) led for the majority of the game, the Dukes (6-11, 1-4) made an early second-half push, erasing an 11-point halftime deficit. The Hawks would reclaim the advantage, finishing the game on a 29-17 run to gain the victory.

“[Duquesne] makes hard shots,” St. Joe’s head coach Billy Lange said. “I think the effort our guys gave the last nine minutes defensively was as good as we’ve had all season.”

Hall led all Hawks with 18 points.

Jackie Johnson III led all Dukes with a game-high 19 points.

St. Joe’s opened the game on fire from deep, hitting seven three-pointers for 54%. Despite getting two quick fouls and spending time on the bench, Hall had three triples in the opening 20 minutes.

“Every basket that we get, we have to do it in a united way,” Lange said. “Our starters did a great job of moving the ball.”

St. Joe’s expanded its lead to as much as 16 in the first half.

Early in the second half, the Hawks weren’t as efficient. Hall and Taylor Funk hit timely three-pointers to stymie Duquesne’s hopes after a 19-5 Dukes run to start the second half.

Coming off an 18-point performance against George Mason last game, Erik Reynolds II stayed hot against the Dukes. He had 10 first-half points, including two three-pointers. He looked confident driving against the larger Duquesne forwards.

At one point in the first half, after hitting a fadeaway jumper, one of his shoes came off, darting across the Hawk logo. Without missing a beat, he slipped the shoe back on and quickly was back in a defensive stance.

“If you look at Reynolds II in the past 10 days … I just think it is growth,” said Lange. “We believe he can be a good player and he has a lot of room to get better.”

With five minutes left in the game, Reynolds II hit a three-pointer, extending the Hawks’ lead to six.

He finished with 13 points and three rebounds.

Reynolds’ success took the scoring load off of Hall, Funk, and Ejike Obinna, who have been the main trio for the Hawks this season. Obinna struggled to start the game, missing his first four attempts. Funk was 1-for-4 on three-pointers.

Seven-foot center Charles Coleman, Obinna’s backup, has been more of a consistent part of Lange’s rotation as of late.

In the first half, Coleman played nine minutes and had an emphatic dunk off a lob from Funk.

“He is going to come along and it might take a little longer than we all expected right away [due to injuries], but we believe in him,” Lange said.

The usually-reliable Obinna played much better in the second half, finishing with 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

St. Joe’s heads on the road to play St. Bonaventure on Saturday.