St. Joe’s plays a complete game to roll past George Mason, 81-63
Guards Derek Simpson (23 points) and Jaiden Glover-Toscano (21) paced St. Joe's to its second straight win.
St. Joseph’s coach Steve Donahue said following a win over Loyola Chicago on Saturday that his Hawks may not shoot well for all 40 minutes, but they would do everything else well.
The Hawks showed what could happen if they played a complete game against George Mason on Wednesday night at Hagan Arena.
St. Joe’s (18-10, 10-5 Atlantic 10) clicked on both ends of the floor, knocking down 11 three-pointers while forcing 11 turnovers in an 81-63 win over the Patriots. In a game to help decide which team receives a double-bye in next month’s A10 tournament, George Mason (21-7, 9-6) had no answers.
“We can be unstoppable, honestly,” said guard Derek Simpson. “I think the biggest part with us is being on the same page.”
Statistical leaders
St. Joe’s shot 51.6%, led by Simpson (23 points) and Jaiden Glover-Toscano (21). It is the second straight game the Hawks have had two players score 20 or more points.
The Hawks also limited the Patriots to 39.7% shooting. They trailed for just 36 seconds to send George Mason home with its fourth straight loss.
What we saw
The Hawks went down 2-0 in the first minute of the game and never trailed again.
With the game tied at 10, St. Joe’s guard Austin Williford drained a three-pointer to kickstart a 13-0 run, which included back-to-back threes from Glover-Toscano for a 23-10 lead with 11:09 left in the first half.
The Patriotsscored just 11 points in the first 11 minutes of the first half
“We want to get loose,” Simpson said. “I feel like we didn’t do that the last game. We weren’t able to get out and have fun. I feel like we slowed the pace a lot. We were dead in the legs and stuff like that. But today we said we weren’t going to do that.”
The Hawks went into halftime with a 44-25 lead after going on a 21-8 run over the final 8:48 of the first half.
George Mason didn’t fare much better in the second half.
The Hawks shot 51.7% from the floor in the second half. They used their pace to stifle the defense with 22 fastbreak points and got 15 points off turnovers.
Game-changing play
Playing in his second game since missing two, St, Joe’s guard Khaafiq Myers scored 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
George Mason trimmed the lead to 66-49 with 8:13 left in the game, but the Hawks were still looking for extra cushion. Myers helped, drilling a three with guard Devin Booker in his face and on the ensuing Patriots’ possession, he hauled in a defensive rebound and passed to Simpson for a dunkto go up 71-49 with 7:33 remaining.
“I thought [Myers] was terrific tonight, and that’s another thing,” Donahue said. “Our offense really needs someone to just push it and get somebody else an easy basket. He did that tonight.”
Up next
St. Joe’s will hit the road to face Rhode Island (15-12, 6-8) on Saturday (noon,ESPN+).