Saint Joseph's Dominates Fordham

               The Saint Joseph's Hawks blew the Fordham Rams out of Hagan Arena on Saturday night, taking the game by a score of 82-56.  The Hawks dominated from the outset, as well they should have, since Fordham is a bad team and now has a record of 6-23 after the defeat.
 Saint Joseph's improved to 16-11 and 7-7 in Atlantic 10 play.  The Hawks, who have struggled all season and often played down to their opponents level, gave the Rams little hope from the beginning.  Saint Joseph's opened the game on a 10-0 run and held the Rams scoreless for over 6 minutes.  The Hawks maintained steady control of the game throughout, and entered the locker room at halftime with a 39-22 lead.  It was more of the same in the second half, as Saint Joseph's outscored Fordham 43-34, in a commanding win over a bad squad.  The Hawks were in desperate need of a win in a season that has been a massive disappointment.  While the win helps to improve the Hawks record, they are still unlikely to be able to make the NCAA Tournament.  With two games remaining in the regular season, the Hawks will need to win one to qualify for the A-10 Tournament, and after that will need an extremely impressive tournament, and likely  a tournament crown if they have any aspirations of going dancing this year.  The Hawks had a dominant effort last night, despite missing a key player in big-man C.J Aiken.
                  Phil Martelli finally played some of the reserves in this game, albeit not that much.  Daryus Quarles received the starting nod in place of the injured Aiken, and contributed 5 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes of play.  The Hawks efforts were led by senior guard Carl "Tay" Jones, who scored 24 points, in a season where his shooting has been very streaky.  Big-men Halil Kanacevic and Ronald Roberts Jr. had solid all-around games to pick up the slack for the missing Aiken.  Kanacevic scored 12 while also grabbing 9 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists, and blocking 2 shots.  Roberts contributed 10 points and 7 rebounds on the game while also blocking 2 shots.  Martelli played the subs a little in the blowout win, but none of the reserves received outstanding minutes.  There was an Isaiah Miles sighting, as he scored 3 points in 7 minutes of play.  So while the Hawks looked strong against a bad Fordham squad, it is likely that this season is already pretty much in the books.  With two regular season games remaining before the A-10 Tournament, the Hawks will need to go on quite the run if they have any postseason aspirations left.  Saint Joseph's returns to action against Rhode Island on Wednesday.  Until then, THE HAWK WILL NEVER DIE!