PHILADELPHIA – Langston Galloway scored a game-high 20 points and Ronald Roberts and Halil Kanacevic each notched double-doubles as Saint Joseph’s defeated Yale, 61-35, in the 2012 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Hagan Arena. It was the season opener for the Hawks while Yale drops to 0-2.
Kanacevic had 11 points and 11 rebounds while Roberts had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawks.
Galloway shot 6-for-9 from the field en route to the 16th 20-point game of his career. He also went 6-for-9 from the foul line, which was the Hawks’ best effort, despite a dismal 16-for-30 performance by the team.
“Langston is a terrific all-around player and very, very conscientious. What I thought he did was on every possession he worked hard. So, at the defensive end, that was really a team thing, but in Langston’s case, that’s what he does. He gives you maximum effort, and he should be applauded for that,” said Hawk coach Phil Martelli.
Sophomore point guard Chris Wilson had a turnover-free game in 36 minutes of action. Wilson replaced Carl Jones in the starting lineup as Jones sat out the second game of a three-game suspension.
As one of the regional hosts for the tournament, Saint Joseph’s will next play Notre Dame in the championship round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on November 16. BYU and Florida State are the other participants and the championship and consolation games will be held on November 17.
The Hawks’ defense, which limited Yale to just 25 percent shooting in both halves, held the Bulldogs to 35 points, which was the lowest point total for an SJU opponent during the shot clock era (1985-86 season).
“We played really exceptional defense and (assistant coach) Geoff Arnold deserves a lot of credit for that. We took two games from last year even though their two big guns are gone. We really wanted to concentrate, as you saw, on (Austin) Morgan so that was a team defensive job against him. I was really pleased with that. We practice better than we played, but not defensively – that was really enjoyable to watch from a coach’s view,” said Martelli.
Saint Joseph’s jumped out to an 8-0 lead and extended it to 15-4 at 12:23 on a layup by Kanacevic. A three-pointer by Galloway at 2:51 gave SJU a 25-12 lead and Yale’s Sam Martin responded with a three to cut the deficit to 25-15 at halftime.
The Hawks shot 50 percent in the second half and took a 51-26 lead with 5:27 to go on a jumper by C.J. Aiken. SJU took its biggest lead of the game, 59-32, with over two minutes to play on a layup by Roberts.
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