St. Joseph’s 73, Fordham 69: Stats, highlights, and reaction from Hawks’ win

After a rough first half, St. Joseph’s stepped up in the second half to deliver a 73-69 win over Fordham Saturday afternoon at Hagan Arena.

St. Joe’s (6-23, 2-14 Atlantic 10) hit just 3 of its first 14 field goals and didn’t take a lead until just over three minutes into the second half. Fordham (7-21, 1-15) led, 32-31, at halftime.

Cameron Brown gave the Hawks their first two-possession lead of the game with a three with 11 minutes, 50 seconds to play, putting the Hawks up 45-39. St. Joe’s went on to extend that lead to 53-39 before the Rams ended a scoreless drought of more than six minutes.

The Hawks stayed in control until the final minute of play, when Fordham cut the lead to five points and turned up a full-court press. It got down to 71-69 when Josh Colon hit a three with 2.3 seconds left. But Rahmir Moore hit a pair of free throws after that to seal the win.

St. Joe’s had four players reach double figures in scoring for the first time since Jan. 21.

Ryan Daly had a game-high 21 points. He shot just 5-of-14 from the field, including 1-of-7 from three-point range but was 10-of-14 from the free throw line.

Brown had 12 points, and Anthony Longpré and Myles Douglas had 11 each. Longpré also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Colon led Fordham with 17 points.

“Well, you just do it, I mean, and you just keep doing it. And then you need the game experiences. And then you need the film. And then you need the drills that show you how to create a lead, and put your forearm and fist into a guy’s chest, and sit over his top leg, and get the ball." — St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange on teaching his young and shorthanded Hawks team how to deal with a full-court press late in a game.

“I wasn’t making threes, so I just tried to attack and get to the rim. … If I can take 14 free throws a game, I’ll take that every game." — Ryan Daly on his rough shooting day.

There obviously isn’t a prize for staying out of last place, but Billy Lange’s debut season will look a little less rough now that St. Joe’s has left Fordham alone in the cellar. These teams were tied at the bottom of the standings going into the game.

The Hawks’ remaining regular-season games are at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday 7 p.m., ESPN+), then home vs. La Salle next Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+). The Rams visit George Washington on Wednesday then host George Mason next Saturday.

If Fordham and St. Joe’s finish tied in the standings, the Hawks would get the 13th seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament based on the head-to-head tiebreaker. Again, it’s not much, but at least it’s not last place.