St. Joe’s falls to William & Mary despite Charlie Brown Jr scoring career-high 37 points

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Saint Joseph's is more experienced, but William & Mary played like veterans, especially in the second half, as the Hawks squandered a 20-point lead and lost 87-85 on a last-second basket to the Tribe in a non-conference college basketball game on Saturday.

Charlie Brown Jr. scored a career-high 37 points, Lamarr Kimble added 18, and Jared Bynum had 12. But, Saint Joseph's (3-3) committed an uncharacteristic eight turnovers in the second half and was outscored 52-36 during the final 20 minutes in dropping its third consecutive game.

"Obviously, the result is tough. I would label it more concerning and disappointing," said Hawks coach Phil Martelli. "We just gave up 52 points in a half, and only three fouls shots. … We're really struggling here to find ourselves defensively. We're a good offensive team, but we weren't sharp on what we wanted to take away from them."

The Hawks led 59-39 lead with fewer than three minutes gone in the second half. But the Tribe (2-4) rallied behind freshman Chase Audige, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half. He was 5 of 7 on three-pointers, including 4 of 5 in the second half. Tribe junior Nathan Knight, coming off a career-high 32-point outing, added 11 of his 21 in the second half, including the game-winner. Junior Justin Pierce finished with 20 points, and L.J. Owens, another freshman, had 12.

Brown converted a four-point play with 2:08 remaining to give the Hawks an 82-80 lead. After William & Mary tied the game, Kimble was fouled while making a shot in the paint and converted the free throw for an 85-82 lead. But Audige's final three-pointer of the game forced the 14^th, and last tie of the game, with 48 seconds left.

"That was the biggest bucket," Martelli said.

After Brown missed a jumper from the left baseline, William & Mary, which shot 68 percent from the field in the second half, got the rebound and called timeout with 16.9 seconds left.

The Tribe worked the ball down into the low post on the left, where Knight hit from close range for the win with one second left.

Brown, averaging 22.6 points entering the game, had 23 points as St. Joe's led 49-35 at the half. The Hawks committed just one turnover in the first half, and made 9 of 10 free throws. In the second half, the Hawks were 12 of 18 at the line.

"We had eight turnovers in the second half, and that's really disappointing because we are a skillful team," Martelli said.

The Hawks return home for the first time since Nov. 12 when they play Illinois-Chicago on Wednesday.