In a season of highs and lows, one of the running themes for St. Joseph’s men’s basketball is that they never stay down for too long.
After a one-point loss to George Mason on Feb. 15 and a win over George Washington on Wednesday, St. Joe’s (17-10, 8-6 Atlantic 10) secured a 78-62 victory over Richmond at Hagan Arena on Saturday.
“I just kind of try to handle everything the same way, just keep teaching,” said coach Billy Lange. “That’s what I think coaching is — keep leading. And I walked in the locker room after the game in Fairfax and I told them, nothing changed in terms of the way that I see them. I know how good they are and how good they can be when we do it. … We handled it on Monday, and we just had a really good week.”
Shooting 58.62% from the field and 52.94% from three-point territory in the first half, the Hawks jumped out to an early, 43-26, lead going into the locker room. The Hawks held the Spiders to just 37.9% total shooting from the field (22 of 58 attempts).
But it was St. Joe’s long-range shooting that sealed its win, as they knocked down 15 three-pointers. Erik Reynolds II finished with a game-high 25 points and made 7 of 12 three-pointers. He was 28-points shy of breaking Jameer Nelson’s all-time scoring record (2,094) and 9 three-pointers shy of Langston Galloway’s three-point record (343).
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“Our offensive attitude is something I’ve talked to the team about for the last couple weeks,” Lange said. I thought it’s been really consistent. We just played three games, basically in a week, and five of six have been really good. Prior to that, it was like three of six heads. So there’s development and improvement.”
Rasheer Fleming added 23 points and made 4 of 8 attempts from deep, while also grabbing six rebounds. Xzayvier Brown rounded out the double-figure scoring with 15 points, five rebounds, and seven assists.
The Hawks also finished with 20 assists off of 28 makes, playing what Reynolds called their “brand of basketball.”
“That’s what we do best,” Reynolds said. “The more we keep moving from side to side, the more we get to create for each other, and it’s fun to play, but then I feel like it’s also fun to watch.”
Dusan Neskovic paced the Spiders with 14 points, while Mike Walz and Mikkel Tyne scored 13 apiece.
St. Joe’s will host St. Bonnaventure on Wednesday (7 p.m., Peacock).