Galloway, Bembry lead St. Joseph's to big win over VCU

Langston Galloway and DeAndre' Bembry snapped out of recent slumps, and that provided St. Joseph's with one of its most important basketball wins of the season.

With Galloway scoring 24 points and Bembry adding 18, the Hawks defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 69-62, in an Atlantic Ten matchup Saturday night at Hagan Arena.

After losing to A-10 leader St. Louis on Wednesday, St. Joseph's knew it had little margin for error in terms of NCAA tournament consideration

The Hawks are 16-7 and 6-3 in the A-10. VCU, a team highly likely to make the NCAA tournament, saw its six-game winning streak snapped as it fell to 19-5, 7-2.

In his previous five games, Galloway hit just 17 of 56 from the field, and Bembry was 13 for 49. On Saturday, Galloway hit 8 of 14 from the field and 3 of 8 from beyond the arc.

"This feels good, and we are trying to keep it going and try to get in the tournament," Galloway said.

Bembry was 8 for 13 from the field.

"My offense is coming, but I still missed a lot of free throws," said Bembry, who was 1 for 5 from the foul line.

Halil Kanacevic contributed seven points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, while Ronald Roberts Jr. had nine points and nine rebounds.

The key was St. Joseph's not allowing the Rams to get into their transition game. VCU entered the game leading the country in forced turnovers per game (19.3) and steals per game (11.8). St. Joseph's committed 12 turnovers.

When Roberts scored on a thunderous alley-oop dunk from Kanacevic to increase the Hawks' lead to 63-50 with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left, the game appeared over.

VCU, however, twice cut the margin to three points, the second time on Juvonte Reddic's driving layup that made the score 65-62 with 1:15 left.

With 32.9 seconds remaining, VCU's Treveon Graham was called for a charge, taken by Kanacevic, and his basket was waved off, leaving the Hawks up by three.

"I felt I was there and in position and took it, and it went our way," Kanacevic said about the charge.

Galloway hit two free throws with 24.9 seconds left to ice the game.

Notes. Hawks reserve forward Papa Ndao missed the game with the flu. . . . Redshirt freshman guard Kyle Mollock, who saw limited action in eight games, had season-ending knee surgery on his right anterior cruciate ligament Friday, after suffering a tear in practice earlier this month.