Saint Joseph's loses fourth straight

ITHACA, N.Y. - Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli knows why his team lost to Cornell, 78-66, yesterday.

Watch four straight losses and you begin to see a trend.

He also knows that the Hawks better do something fast if they expect to have a chance at winning their next game - against No. 3 Villanova.

Yesterday, St. Joe's (3-4) scored the final seven points of the first half to reach intermission tied, 30-30, despite shooting just 29 percent from the field.

But Cornell (7-2) scored the first 12 points of the second half en route to 25-4 run and led 50-34 with 14:08 remaining.

After the game, Martelli said the Hawks need to address a few things.

"In the first half we had a real good mental and physical effort defensively," Martelli said. "In the second half there were breakdowns - missed assignments, slow reactions - and that's one of the things with my team that I've seen now over seven games.

"We have a tough time right now stopping the boulder coming at you. We're not able yet to do that. That's going to take every guy stepping up and giving it more of a mental approach."

Cornell had five players in double figures, led by Ryan Wittman's 17 points.

St. Joe's, which shot 36.4 percent from the floor for the game, was led by Garrett Williamson, who scored 14 points and Darrin Govens, who added 10.

The Hawks will meet Villanova Wednesday at the Palestra at 9 p.m. in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPN2.