St. Joe’s up-and-down season continues with home loss to College of Charleston, 78-75
Rasheer Fleming paced the Hawks with 26 points, but St. Joe's star Erik Reynolds II finished with just six points on 2-for-10 shooting.
It’s been a season of high highs and low lows for the St. Joseph’s men’s basketball team this season, and its 78-75 home loss to College of Charleston on Tuesday night had both on display.
“It was just a good game,” Hawks coach Billy Lange said. “If it went another five minutes, perhaps we win. But they’re a good team.”
After successfully defending their Big 5 title at the Wells Fargo Center Saturday night against La Salle, St. Joe’s (6-4) kept the momentum rolling against Charleston (7-2) but struggled to maintain it late in the game.
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The Hawks held a 43-36 lead at the half but struggled to maintain their cushion with the Cougars making more three-pointers in the first five minutes of the second half than they did in the entire first half. A 15-2 run helped the Cougars take their first lead of the game with 6 minutes, 23 seconds remaining, and the Hawks never led again.. Xzayvier Brown had a chance to tie the game on a three-point shot with three seconds left, but it missed and Charleston rebounded to seal the outcome.
St. Joe’s also had 15 turnovers, their second highest total in a game this season.
“I actually thought our defense, despite what the numbers say, was actually pretty good,” Lange said. “There was some transition possessions off of a miss or untimely turnover that was like an undefendable basket pushing the ball and in transition. We missed some timely shots. We had some timely turnovers.”
Junior forward Rasheer Fleming had a career-high 26 points for the Hawks, besting his 25 points last week against Princeton. Eight minutes into the second half, sophomore guard Xzayvier Brown reached double-figure scoring, and he finished with 14. Brown has scored in double figures in every game this season. Simpson added 11 points.
Struggling senior guard Erik Reynolds II had a rough night, shooting 2-for-10 for six points, with four turnovers to go with six assists and five rebounds.
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“You got to love them and believe in them. You got to look to see if there’s anything technical at this point of a guy’s career that you can make a tweak to,” Lange said of Reynolds’ slump. “It could be a toe, it could be his legs, it could be his follow-through, it could be anything. So you got to evaluate that, and then you got to decide whether or not you’re going to make that change now.”
For the Cougars, junior guard AJ Smith finished with 18 points, followed by senior forward Ante Brzovic with 17.
“I thought we did a great job. I thought the team did a good job. We sank in there. We made [Brzovic] travel. We made him pick it up. We made him hesitant,” Lange said. “He got 17 points, but if you told me he was going to do it on 17 shots and four turnovers, I think we’re gonna win a game.”
The Hawks look to bounce back when they face American University at Hagan Arena on Dec. 18 (7 p.m., ESPN+).