Back-to-back Big 5 wins give St. Joe’s another title game trip — and important momentum

There was a time within recent memory when the natives were growing restless on City Avenue.

St. Joseph’s was underwhelming, threatening to squander a talented-on-paper team, and fans were grumbling about it.

But we aren’t talking about earlier years in coach Billy Lange’s tenure. We’re talking about earlier this month.

» READ MORE: St. Joe’s gets its statement win over Villanova, and a season with a lot of potential is only just beginning

Well, times change, even for local college basketball devotees who so often pine for the past. Now the Hawks are 4-1 after wins over Villanova and Penn, the latter an 86-69 rout Friday night at the Palestra that sealed a place in the Big 5 title game.

“These things sharpen iron,” Lange said. “This week sharpened us, and that’s what the Big 5 does.”

His team heads into this week’s high-profile mini-tournament in Brooklyn with momentum. A matchup with Texas Tech, just outside the AP Top 25, awaits on Thursday, then Syracuse — always good for talking about — or also-almost-ranked Texas on Friday.

“We only have momentum if we play the right way,” Lange said. “We know what’s ahead of us. [General manager] Rob Sullivan did a great job putting the schedule together. … But we still have time right now to get better ourselves. We need to do that.”

Lange knew there were gripes out there after the season started with a closer-than-needed win over Navy and a bad loss to Central Connecticut State. The last two games have been more like it, and a fine way to set up the big-stage games to come.

“We felt good going into practice on Sunday and Monday, and we knew what this week was,” he said “And quite honestly, it came at the right time. Seven days goes fast.”

The good times are rolling on Hawk Hill these days. Along with the men’s basketball team’s momentum, the women’s team is 3-0 after rolling past Penn, 68-57, in the first game of a Palestra twin bill on Friday.

» READ MORE: Villanova’s shooting woes remain apparent in another early season loss, this time to Virginia

Coach Cindy Griffin’s squad won at Syracuse, 84-70, last Sunday in the first of many big-time nonconference games designed to get national attention for a team with NCAA Tournament aspirations. The next is Friday at Utah, the preseason No. 6 pick in a strong Big 12.

“I love the fact that this team is fearless on the road,” Griffin said of a team that won 15 road games last year with many of the same players. “They love to play, whatever the conditions are. They have a great chemistry, they want to play with and for each other, and they play with and for each other every day.”

And the women’s field hockey team is doing the best of anyone, ranked No. 3 in the country and into the second round of the NCAA Tournament after beating No. 20 Lafayette, 1-0, on Friday. Those Hawks are hosting the first and second rounds at Ellen Ryan Field, and will host No. 13 Princeton on Sunday at noon. Win that game, and it will be off to the Final Four at the University of Michigan.

Of course, the loudest buzz was created by the men’s basketball team’s win over Villanova in the Big 5’s biggest rivalry game. But the mood is felt across campus, including by Griffin — who’d know better than anyone, as a Hawks alum in her job for 23 years.

“It’s fabulous,” she said. “You love those moments, you love those Big 5 wins.”

» READ MORE: St. Joe’s advances in NCAA field hockey tournament with ‘gritty’ win over Lafayette

The men’s basketball half of Friday’s proceedings was easy to predict. Penn doesn’t have the talent to run with St. Joe’s athleticism and high-paced style, and the Hawks were barely troubled. It was 46-33 at halftime, and it was 72-40 with 11 minutes, 30 seconds to go in the second half. Penn played better after that, but it didn’t matter much.

Even worse, the attendance was a woeful 3,056 for the only Big 5 men’s game of the season at the City Series’ spiritual home. This game used to be a guaranteed sellout, with Penn fans showing up in numbers. But the Quakers’ fall from the Ivy League’s elite has led to a big fall in crowds. Some St. Joe’s fans came, but there were still swaths of empty bleachers in all four corners and the upper end zones.

Perhaps it didn’t help that the game was on a Friday night instead of a Saturday, but this matchup used to be big enough to fill the place no matter when it was played. It isn’t anymore, and the team that owns the building is a reason why.

Quakers coach Steve Donahue said he was “obviously disappointed, but I’m far from discouraged” with a roster that unusually has for an Ivy League team has a lot of transfers.

“I think there’s plenty of talent to really compete for a championship in the Ivy [League], but it’s just too new right now. These are all new parts, and my job is to make sure as we get better, we win games for sure, but we’re ready for the Ivy.”

Donahue insisted “we’ll be ready” for conference play. But as the game unfolded, a fair few fans in the stands — and those many empty seats — seemed skeptical.