Courtesy of SJUHawks.com
DeAndre’ Bembry’s fadeaway jumper at 26.9 seconds to go proved to be the game winner as Saint Joseph’s won its seventh in a row, defeating Richmond, 77-73, at the Robins Center in the A-10 opener for both teams. SJU is now 11-2 (1-0) while Richmond drops to 8-5 (0-1).
Bembry’s shot put the Hawks up 75-73 and he rebounded a Richmond miss with 2.5 seconds left, and hit a pair of free throws to provide the final margin and give SJU their longest winning streak since a seven-game streak in January 2009.
Isaiah Miles led Saint Joseph’s with 17 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year, while Bembry finished with 16 points. Papa Ndao had 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds, while Shavar Newkirk and James Demery scored 10 points apiece.
Saint Joseph’s trailed for most of the second half and was down, 61-56, with 10 minutes to play. The Hawks went on an 8-3 run, tying the game on a three-pointer by Bembry with 7:04 remaining. Miles hit a pair of free throws to put SJU up 66-64 for only the second time in the half. Bembry expanded the Hawks lead to 68-64 with a jumper, followed by a pair of free throws from Newkirk, to give SJU a 70-64 lead at 4:10.
Deion Taylor connected on a three at 3:48 to pull Richmond within 70-67 at 3:48., but SJU maintained a three-point lead as the teams traded baskets and Bembry made one of two free throws to put SJU up, 73-69.
Bembry was fouled on a three-point attempt at 1:56, but missed all three foul shots. Richmond turned over the ball on its next possession, but the Hawks did the same, committing a 10-second violation at 1:00.
Richmond’s ShawnDre’ Jones forced the 73-73 tie with a layup with 49 seconds to go.
Richmond led 37-32 at halftime and came out strong at the start of the second, building its lead to 48-39, its largest of the game. A three from Demery and a three-point play by Miles helped the Hawks cut their deficit to 50-47. The Hawks then scored five straight with a three from Bembry and a putback by Oliva to regain the lead, 52-51, for a brief time.
In the first half, Richmond jumped out to a quick 13-5 lead by way of 3-of-4 three-point shooting, but the Hawks came back with a 7-0 run to cut it to 13-12.
The Hawks took their first lead of the game, 18-16, on a three-pointer by Miles at 12:35, as the Hawks put together a 15-5 run to take a 22-16 lead. SJU then built it up to 27-20 at 8:35 on five straight points from Ndao.
The Spiders regained the lead, 29-27, with a 9-0 run, with seven minutes but the Hawks took it back with a three from Ndao.
The teams traded leads until Richmond scored six straight to go up 37-32 and went into halftime with that lead.
Jones had 22 points for Richmond while Terry Allen had 21. Khwan Fore scored 14 and T.J. Cline scored 13.
Saint Joseph’s returns home to host VCU on Tuesday.
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