PHILADELPHIA – Langston Galloway scored 20 points to help Saint Joseph’s post a 74-58 win over Villanova in front of a standing room only crowd at Hagan Arena. It marked the first time that the Philadelphia Big 5 rivals had played on SJU’s campus.
The victory was Saint Joseph’s third in a row improving the Hawks to 8-3 (1-0 Big 5) while Villanova dropped to 6-5 (2-2 Big 5). It also ended SJU’s three-game losing streak against the Wildcats.
Galloway connected on 8-for-13 from the field, while going 3-for-3 from three-point range. Carl Jones had 15 points and Ronald Roberts was 6-for-6 from the field to notch 12 points. C.J. Aiken had 11 points and four blocked shots.
The historic contest featured a Saint Joseph’s student section that was packed to the rafters and kept the volume up the entire game.
Saint Joseph’s played on the emotion and held an early 21-12 lead, but could not stretch it any further as Villanova came within 26-21 with 4:34 to play. The Wildcats would cut the deficit to 30-27 by halftime.
But the Hawks came out strong in the second and took control from the start, going on a 9-2 run with a Galloway dunk giving the Hawks a 39-29 lead. After a three-pointer by Galloway put the Hawks up 44-31, Villanova answered with back-to-back three-pointers from Darrun Hilliard and Maalik Wayns to cut the deficit to 44-37.
The Hawks answered with six straight points by Ronald Roberts, including back-to-back one-handed dunks to stretch the lead to 50-39. Villanova would close to within single digits three more times, but C.J. Aiken converted a three-point play and then brought the house down with a one-handed dunk off of a behind-the-back pass from Jones, to give SJU a 60-47 lead.
Aiken’s dunk was one of many spectacular ones by the sophomore and his teammates, which are beginning to become regular occurrences at Hawk games this season.
Another dunk by Aiken gave Saint Joseph’s a 67-51 lead at 4:56, while a free throw by Chris Wilson and three by Galloway increased it to 71-51, for the biggest margin of the game at 1:42.
Wayns was the only Wildcat in double figures, scoring 19 points.
The Hawks shot 50.8 percent from the field and limited Villanova to 33.3 percent shooting.
Saint Joseph’s, which is now on semester break, continues its homestand by hosting Coppin State on Wednesday, December 21.
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