St. Joseph’s falls to St. Louis, 83-78, in conference opener

St. Louis might have won, but St. Joseph’s did not make this one easy for the Billikens.

Despite a strong shooting effort and a number of standout individual performances, the Hawks (6-7) found themselves on the losing end of an 83-78 battle in the Atlantic 10 conference opener for both teams at Hagan Arena.

“I thought our guys battled in a really impressive way,” St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange said. “As we continue to learn how to get better as the season progresses and unfolds, the whole league is going to be really good and have tough games.”

Sophomore guard Erik Reynolds II led the Hawks with 18 points, shooting 7-for-16 from the field and 3-for-7 from three-point range.

Alongside the efforts of Reynolds, senior guard Cam Brown added 17 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Lynn Greer III added 11 points. The Hawks shot 45.5% from the field overall and 34.6% from three.

Guard Gibson Jimerson led St. Louis (9-5) with a game-high 22 points while guard Javon Pickett added 20 as the Billikens shot 52.5% from the floor and outrebounded the Hawks, 40-30. However, the Hawks held Yuri Collins, a 2021-22 All-Atlantic 10 first-team selection, scoreless in the first half and throughout much of the second half. Collins finished with just three points, making his only basket with a jumper at the 3:26 mark in the second half. He did, however, tally 14 assists and seven rebounds.

The Hawks had the momentum early, built behind high-pressure defense and three-pointers from Brown and Reynolds. It all helped the Hawks jump out to an 8-4 lead before St. Louis went on a 17-5 run.

The Hawks again showed they can run the full-court press effectively, forcing 16 total turnovers. However, it proved to be a double-edged sword for a St. Joe’s team that gave up multiple wide-open shots when applying the press.

St. Joe’s closed out the half on a 5-0 run to bring its halftime deficit to just three points, 42-39.

The second half opened with the teams trading baskets before St. Joe’s drew level with a Kacper Klaczek three-point play with 17:18 remaining. The teams continued to trade baskets throughout the opening 10 minutes of the second half, with St. Louis’ lead getting no larger than six.

With a little over four minutes left in the second half, Reynolds brought the Hawks back within three with a sensational windmill layup. But the theme of both teams going shot for shot ultimately found St. Louis getting the edge.

St. Joseph’s went cold from downtown in the second half, going just 3-for-11. The Hawks also left several points off the board with poor free-throw shooting. St. Joe’s entered the bonus with 11 minutes left in the second half and shot just 2-for-5 from the line while in the bonus, and the Hawks were just 9-for-17 from the free-throw line overall.

St. Joseph’s will head out to Ohio to play Dayton at 7 p.m. Wednesday.