LSU too much for St. Joseph's

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Louisiana State's athleticism was too much for St. Joseph's Thursday night in the nightcap of the Old Spice Classic at ESPN's Wide World of Sports.

Add that to LSU's red-hot start, and it was all the Hawks could do to keep this one close, falling to the SEC Tigers, 82-65.

St. Joe's itself has a reputation as an athletic team, but head coach Phil Martelli disputed that notion.

"Because we have a guy that jumps really high, we have a lot of people that think we can match," Martelli said. "I love my team, but the idea that we're athletic . . . no, that [LSU] was athletic."

The athleticism wasn't the only thing Martelli was pointing to after the loss that dropped the Hawks to 2-2. St. Joe's hit just 12 of 26 free throws and was outrebounded, 38-29.

"I really don't think it was about playing harder," Martelli said. "I think that's a myth sometimes in college basketball, 'Oh, we have to play harder.' No, we have to play better, and tomorrow night, we're fortunate enough that this is not the end of the season, it's November, and we just have to play better tomorrow night.

"We don't have to run faster or jump higher. We are what we are in that area."

The Hawks will face Siena in a consolation bracket game Friday at 8 p.m. at the HP Field House. Siena lost to Memphis, 87-60, earlier Thursday.

LSU shot 58 percent from the field in the first half - 61.5 percent (8 of 13) from three-point range - and St. Joe's was playing catch-up most of the way. The Hawks led by 17-16 with 11 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first half, but seven straight points by LSU began a 15-4 spurt from which St. Joe's could never recover.

"Credit obviously to LSU. They had a complete game," Martelli said. "When we talked about and prepared for this we felt that we would have to pitch a complete game. That means every loose ball . . . make your free throws, not miss a defensive assignment. . . . We didn't do any of those things. So it's not on a guy, and it's not on a system. They had a complete game, and we didn't have a complete game."

Things could have gone better for St. Joseph's leading scorer Langston Galloway, the Baton Rouge, La., product who was going up against the college from back home.

Galloway, who came in averaging 18.3 points per game, had just two points on 1-of-3 shooting at halftime. He ended up with eight points.

Ronald Roberts led St. Joe's with 21 points, and he became the 51st player in St. Joe's history to pass 1,000 points for his career.