Hawks' early success falls by wayside in loss to Xavier

THE UPSET SCRIPT was being followed perfectly. Saint Joseph's was lying back in a zone defense after scores. The Hawks were running clock every time, limiting possessions to just 1.5 per minute.

SJU did not turn it over, got mostly good shots and was making its fair share. There were few fouls and fewer free throw attempts. The Hawks had Atlantic 10 leader Xavier a bit tentative. Tu Holloway, the favorite for league Player of the Year, had not scored a point in nearly 20 minutes.

There was just one problem with the script at Hagan Arena. Xavier scored 13 of the final 15 points in the first half. A dubious foul was called on a Holloway three-point attempt with 1 second left before the break. He casually made all three. All that good work resulted in a seven-point halftime deficit. Playing from behind was not going to be a winning formula for a team that did not win a single game last month.

Xavier won it comfortably, 74-54. St. Joe's (7-18, 2-9 A-10) had won two straight, but those were against Massachusetts and Fordham. Xavier (19-6, 10-1) is none of that. "X" is the standard in this league.

"I'm disappointed that we didn't have more basketball players tonight," St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli said. "I liked the plan. I would repeat the plan again. I thought the rhythm was good."

Cameras clicked in the moments before tipoff when Lenny Martelli (no relation) walked out on the court with Phil Martelli. Lenny was paralyzed in a snowboarding accident 366 days before. The coach had promised him when he recovered he could walk to the court with him. He has recovered. He walked out, got a huge ovation and then sat on the Hawks' bench between the trainer and the priest.

"I'm really appreciative of the media's understanding of this story," Phil Martelli said. "This is about people. It's always been about people."

It also was revealed in a release just before tipoff that two SJU reserves would not be playing. According to the release, Patrick Swilling was out "due to a violation of the university's student code of conduct," while Todd O'Brien was out "due to a failure to comply with the university's community standards."

Appropriately vague, the release also said "the university will conduct a judicial process to determine the future status of both student athletes."

A campus source said that both were involved in possession of a laptop that had since been returned to its rightful owner.

No timetable was given for the process.

"I can't really comment on it," Martelli said. "It's a school matter right now. I was made aware of it about 24 hours ago. It was immediately in the school's officials hands."

At halftime, outgoing SJU president, the Rev. Timothy Lannon, was honored. He is leaving for the same position at Creighton after the spring semester.

And they also played some hoops. Holloway was only 2-for-10, but ended up with 14 points and seven assists. The Hawks could do nothing with Mark Lyons (24 points) and Kenny Frease (17 points).

St. Joe's shot just 7-for-29 (24.1 percent) in the second half and 30.9 percent for the game. The Hawks' only double-figure scorers for the season, Carl and Langston Galloway, combined to shoot 3-for-18. St. Joe's isn't going to beat anybody with that. And Xavier is not just anybody.

"What I just commented to the team for the first time in a while, maybe 3 weeks, the ball didn't go in the basket, so here's what we saw - we saw the heads hanging, their chins on their chest, woe-is-me kind of approach," Martelli said. "You can't play defense through lack of offense."

Once the Hawks got down, there wasn't much life on the court or anywhere else in the building.

Jones, a sophomore, was on a team that lost 20 games last season. This team is likely to lose more than that.

"I don't plan on losing too much next year," said Jones, who scored six points. "I am going to grow up with the freshmen, so we can learn how to win games. Next year, I'm not taking this again."

One of those freshmen, C.J. Aiken, did block his 100th shot on the season last night. He also did not score in 28 minutes.

"I'm not selling false hope and saying everybody will understand because they are so young," Martelli said. "This is 25 games into the season."

It is. And there are still five games to play. Which could be good experience for such a young team. Or could be more games just like last night. Or both. *