Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli has been talking about his Hawks team needing to get their "mojo" back in the days leading up to last night's contest with the Dayton Flyers. During the second half, one player in particular was going to make sure the Hawks got their "mojo" back on their way to a key conference victory.
Ronald Roberts scored 22 of his 27 points during the second half, 21 of which came during key segments of the half as the Hawks reversed a seven point halftime deficit on their way to a 77-63 win over Dayton at Hagan Arena.
During the first half Saint Joseph's (13-8, 3-3 Atlantic 10) struggled once again, with their offense looking stagnant for long stretches, while on the other end of the floor, the Hawks allowed Dayton (14-6, 4-2 A-10) to corral numerous offensive rebounds. The Flyers had 17 offensive rebounds for the game and out-rebounded the Hawks 27-16 during the first half.
The Hawks were fortunate to be within touching distance going into halftime as Dayton also struggled on the offensive end overall, only shooting 33% from the field during the first half. Dayton's Josh Parker knocked down a three-pointer right before halftime in what was a possible momentum changing play that put the Flyers up 32-27 at the break.
Dayton held a 43-39 lead with 16:00 left in the game when Roberts began to take over the game. The Hawks would go on an 11-0 run which started on a Roberts throwdown off of an offensive rebound after C.J. Aiken was off the mark from three-point range. Roberts would net two other buckets during the run, which put the Hawks up 50-43 with 11:53 to play.
Roberts made sure the Hawks would hold on to this win by scoring their last 15 points of the contest. There were three buckets in particular that proved that it was just going to be Roberts' night. The first was right before the final media timeout of the game, with the shot clock running down, Roberts threw up a desperation baseline heave from just inside the three-point line that fell and restored a double-digit lead for the Hawks.
Roberts next foray into the action brought the house down at Hagan. After a Hawks timeout, on a sidelines out of bounds play, Roberts broke free and sprinted towards the basket, throwing down a windmill jam that may have been the most impressive of all of his high-wire acts this season, while also drawing a foul.
For good measure, Roberts decided to end the Hawks scoring for the night with a 15-foot bank shot from a seemingly impossible angle along the baseline, giving the Hawks a 77-61 lead with just over a minute to play. A late jumper by Parker for Dayton rounded out the scoring in the contest.
After the game, Roberts was rather sheepish, stating something that was obvious to the nearly 3800 fans who packed Hagan Arena in the most understated fashion, "All my shots were just going down for me."
In regards to his windmill dunk, Roberts said, "Lang (Galloway) set a good screen, I saw the rim but I also knew there was a defender behind me so I just windmilled it."
Martelli also heaped praise on Roberts after the game for accepting his role off of the bench; "Ron is a starter, he just doesn't get his name called before the game like the other five guys. Some guys would pout but that's not the way he's been raised, I'm delighted for him."
Saint Joseph's only committed five turnovers in the game, an impressive statistic considering the Hawks had over 15 turnovers in their prior two contests.
Besides Roberts, who led the Hawks with 27 points, Saint Joseph's also got double-digit scoring efforts out of Aiken, who added 14 points, Halil Kanacevic, who fought foul trouble to provide 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, as well as Langston Galloway who netted 10 points on the evening. Saint Joseph's shot an impressive 21-of-30 (70%) from the field in the second half.
Chris Johnson and Kevin Dillard each scored 17 points for Dayton in a losing effort.
Saint Joseph's will make the short trip to Temple for a game against Big 5 and A-10 rival Temple on Saturday afternoon at 4PM at the Liacouras Center, the game will be broadcast on The Comcast Network in the Philadelphia region.
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