Saint Joseph's Picks Up Much Needed Win

                After being thoroughly outplayed and outmatched a week ago against La Salle at the Palestra, Saint Joseph's picked up a much needed win today against George Washington.  The Hawks won by a final score of  71-59 and dominated for the majority of the game.
Saint Joseph's efforts were led by a season high 26 points for Langston Galloway, after the Junior guard had been slumping as of late.  Carl Jones and C.J. Aiken added 15 and 13 points respectively for the Hawks who played much better than last week.  It was a complete turn around from a week ago when the Hawks looked out of sync and off their game against a tough La Salle squad.  While George Washington is far from being a good team, with a 12-13 record, Saint Joseph's could not afford to overlook the Colonials, as they have been beaten a few times this year by weak teams.  The Hawks came out of the gate firing and quickly jumped out to a 23-6 lead while the Colonials just looked lost.  George Washington narrowed the gap a little but the Hawks still took a 40-29 lead into the half time break.  While the Hawks played a strong first half, things were not as lopsided in the second half.  The Hawks only outscored the Colonials 31-30 in a second half that saw George Washington narrow the Hawks lead to single digits at one point.
                  The Colonials narrowed the Hawks lead to 7 with just under six minutes left to play.  The difference in halves can once again be possibly attributed to fatigue and lack of depth.  With very little depth, the Hawks often seem fatigued in the second half and cough up leads.  This time they were able to hold on and still pull out a large margin of victory, albeit against a sub-par George Washington squad.  If the Hawks have any aspirations of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in a season that started with such high hopes, which have since diminished, they will need to win out the remainder of their season and most likely win the Atlantic 10 Tournament.  This may not be possible if Phil Martelli still refuses to give adequate minutes to reserves such as Daryus Quarles and Papa Ndao.  While the difference in skill level between the starters and reserves is highly noticeable, Martelli simply cannot afford to keep wearing out his best players by leaving them in the entire first half and then letting them be fatigued for the second half.  If the Hawks hope to make the NCAA Tournament they will need to beat quite a few tough teams in the A-10 Tournament and this will not be possible if the starters are all worn down late in the game.  In a season filled with disappointments it is time for Martelli to free the reserves and allow them to get experience for next year while also resting his better players for late in games.  So while the Hawks did pull out a dominating win today it's noting to be overly excited for as it was against a lackluster George Washington team.  The Hawks will need to go on a bit of a run this late in the season in order to make the tournament.  Only time will tell but perhaps the Hawks will finally click and go on a run late in the season, similar to Connecticut a few years ago.  So until next time, The Hawk Will Never Die!