Yesterday’s Action
For 20 minutes last night, St. Joseph’s hung with the best in the Atlantic 10 and it looked like an upset might be brewing. Then, with Saint Louis leading by 2 at halftime, the cellophane wrap was stretched over the Hawks’ rim in the 2nd half as the Billikens pulled away for an easy 70-53 victory. Ryan Roberts, Jr. had an outstanding game for the Hawks, recording a season-high 25 points on 8-10 shooting and 9-11 from the charity stripe. However, the rest of his teammates combined to shoot just 7-36 (19.4%) in what was easily the team’s coldest outing from the field this season. For Saint Louis, leading man Dwayne Evans stuffed the stat sheet with 21 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks, truly doing it all for the Billikens. In the end, losing on the road to a first-place conference foe is not something for the Hawks to hang their heads about. Look for them to rebound from this defeat Saturday night against Fordham.
Today’ Action
7:00 PM: Drexel (11-17, 7-9 CAA) @ Old Dominion (4-24, 2-14 CAA) – NBC Sports Network
Coming off two consecutive heartbreaking losses, a double overtime defeat to Delaware and a one-point loss at the hands of Towson, the Dragons look to bounce back against the last-place Monarchs. Old Dominion is one of the worst shooting teams nationally, shooting only 40.1% as a team. Center DeShawn Painter does the bulk of the work inside for Old Dominion leading the team in scoring (12.9 ppg) and rebounding (8.4 rpg). Painter also has some range for a 6’9″ player, shooting 12-34 (35.3%) from behind the arc on the season.
The Monarchs upset Drexel in Philadelphia earlier this month, 78-66. Painter and reserve guard Dimitri Batten each had 15 points and made 3 of 4 three-pointers in that contest, while Derrick Thomas led Drexel with 18 points on 7-10 shooting. Old Dominion shot well above its average in that one (47.3% from the field, 50.0% from downtown); Drexel needs to do a better job closing out shooting and take care of business against the CAA’s worst.
7:00 PM: Temple (19-8, 8-5 A-10) vs. Detroit (19-10, 11-4 Horizon) – ESPN3
In the midst of their best stretch of conference play this season, Temple takes a break from the Atlantic 10 to take on non-conference foe Detroit in a rescheduled Gotham Classic game. The Titans are led by future NBA point guard Ray McCallum, playing under his head coach father. McCallum is 24th in the nation at 19.1 ppg on 50.1% shooting (incredible for a point guard) and also leads Detroit at 4.7 apg. Detroit as a whole is a high-scoring bunch, 7th in the nation at 78.9 ppg. Not only do they score efficiently, with the 18th-most efficient offense in Division 1, the Titans push the pace playing at the 17th-fastest tempo nationally. As a team not currently projected to make the tournament, there’s no doubt Detroit will get up for this game in its last chance to secure a quality win before the Horizon league tournament. With the Owls on the bubble themselves, they should adopt a similar mindset and come out looking to further secure their tournament resume.
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