CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team took third place in the DIRECTV Charleston Classic, defeating the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 79-75, on Sunday night at TD Arena. Sophomore Langston Galloway led the way for the Hawks with 23 points, while junior Carl Jones poured in 19.
Galloway scored 15 of his points in the first half, including 13 in the first 12 minutes of play, while Jones took over in the second half, dropping 13 to bring the Hawks back from a one-point halftime deficit.
The Hawks shot 59.2 percent from the floor in the game; Galloway’s 5-for-5 from three-point range fueled SJU’s 7-for-8 mark from outside that included a perfect 4-for-4 in the second half.
Tulsa (3-2) jumped out to an early 10-2 lead with 17:50 to go in the first; the eight-point margin would be the Golden Hurricane’s largest lead of the game. Galloway and Jones then rattled off seven straight points to get the Hawks back within one at 10-9 with 15:05 left in the period.
Saint Joseph’s (3-1) took its first lead of the contest with 13:41 to go when Halil Kanacevic fed C.J. Aiken for a dunk that gave the Hawks a 14-13 edge.
The lead would pinball back and forth between the two squads for the remainder of the half; Tulsa went on a 6-1 run to take a 19-15 lead with 11:54 to go before Galloway drained a three and a layup to put SJU back on top, 20-19, midway through the frame.
Tulsa regained the lead with 9:41 to go, and teams went back and forth, trading baskets up until halftime, when Tulsa took a 40-39 lead into the locker room.
Both squads shot over 50 percent from the floor in the opening period.
In the second, Galloway canned back-to-back threes to give the Hawks a 45-41 lead with 17:36 left in the game. Aiken then drained a shot from long range to give the Hawks their largest lead of the game at 52-47 with 13:56 remaining.
Tulsa then scored the next eight points to take a 55-52 lead, but Jones hit from outside to knot the contest back up with 12:02 to go.
As the teams traded baskets for an extended stretch, Ronald Roberts, Jr. scored 10 consecutive Saint Joseph’s points, canning a jumper with 5:33 left to put the Hawks on top, 69-64, and match SJU’s largest lead to that point.
The Golden Hurricane answered quickly, scoring four straight points to cut the advantage to one at 69-68 before Aiken emphatically slammed home a two-handed dunk on a Galloway miss for a three-point lead with 3:49 to go.
From then on, it was all Jones as the junior guard scored SJU’s last eight points of the contest. Jones nailed a jumper with 2:29 to go to extend the lead to five. After a Tulsa basket, he answered with a tough layup with 1:31 on the clock to restore the lead to five at 75-70.
A three-pointer by Scottie Haralson brought Tulsa back within a bucket with 74 seconds to go before Jones replied 30 seconds later with a jumper of his own to give SJU a 77-73 lead. Jones would then give the Hawks their largest lead of the game at 79-73 with a pair of free throws with 13 ticks remaining.
Steven Idlet converted a layup with five seconds left to set the final margin.
Roberts finished the contest with 13 for SJU, while Aiken added 12 to give the Hawks four scorers in double figures.
Saint Joseph’s will be in action on Wednesday night as the Hawks travel to Iona. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. in New Rochelle, New York.
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