Saint Joseph's Loss Sums Up Season

         Last night the Saint Joseph's Hawks visited the Saint Louis Billikens, and were pretty much run out of the gymnasium.  The 70-53 loss to the 18th ranked Billikens dropped the Hawks record to 15-11 and 6-7 in Atlantic 10 play. 
The Hawks were simply outclassed from the start of the game but managed to pull the game close heading into halftime trailing 29-27.  After the break however, the Billikens jumped all over the Hawks and quickly put the game out of reach.  Saint Joseph's continued to disappoint in a season that started with such high hopes.  After being predicted to win the Atlantic 10, the Hawks now find themselves in danger of missing the Atlantic 10 Tournament unless they can finish the season off on a solid run.  With three games remaining in the regular season, all conference match ups, the Hawks will need to find the chemistry they have lacked all season if they have any hopes of qualifying for postseason play.  The team has just never meshed or gotten into a groove all season and looks vastly different from the team that won 20 games a season ago and qualified for the NIT Tournament.  The loss last night pretty much summed up a disappointing season for the Hawks and was essentially a look at their whole season in a nut shell.
          Poor shooting has plagued the Hawks all season and last night was no different.  Saint Joseph's shot 32.6% from the field and an atrocious 17.6% from three-point range.  Like much of the season, the Hawks guard play has just not been what it used to be.  Carl Jones provided only 2 points on a 1 for 9 shooting night, while Langston Galloway was unable to maintain his strong performance from last game, finishing with only 11 points on 2 for 11 shooting from the field.  A team that had so much promise entering the season has done nothing but disappoint and the biggest reason perhaps is that aside from Ronald Roberts Jr., and Chris Wilson, no member of the team seems to have improved much from a year ago.  Wilson did not get the start last night and only played ten minutes, contributing 2 points in what looked more like the Chris Wilson from his freshman year, than the player he has been this year.  Roberts, the reigning A-10 Sixth Man of the Year, has continued to be the only bright spot for the Hawks this season.  Roberts contributed 25 points and 7 rebounds last night, and was the only reason the score was close at the half.  He has shown vast improvement this season and continues to play strong, throwing down some monstrous dunks.  If the rest of the team had improved even one iota as much as Roberts has since last season, this team would be in a vastly different position, likely looking at a Tournament bid.  Unfortunately, one man cannot carry the entire team and at this point the Hawks are on thin ice with their hopes of making the A-10 Tournament.  The loss to Saint Louis essentially summed up the 2012-2013 season for the Hawks, poor shooting, lackluster guard play, and the only bright spot being the play of Ronald Roberts Jr.  So at this point hope is low for the Hawks, in what has been a majorly disappointing season.  The Hawks will return to action against Fordham on March 2nd.  Until then, THE HAWK WILL NEVER DIE!