St. Joseph’s snaps four-game skid with 83-67 win over Richmond

A solid shooting performance from St. Joseph’s led to an 83-67 win over Richmond on Wednesday night. With the win, the Hawks (14-16, 8-10 Atlantic 10) snapped a four-game losing skid and now celebrate three straight wins against the Spiders (14-16, 7-10).

With the victory, the Hawks also moved into position for the No. 9 seed in the upcoming A-10 men’s conference tournament and are scheduled to play the No. 8 seed, currently held by St. Bonaventure on Tuesday at 11 a.m., inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“I’m mostly enthused and encouraged [by] the spirit of the group.” St. Joseph’s head coach Billy Lange said. “The win is great because they can feel that, but I’m mostly encouraged by their spirit.”

Sophomore guard Erik Reynolds II led the Hawks offensively with 33 points, shooting 10 of 18 from the field and 5 of 12 from three. Also scoring in double digits for the Hawks were sophomore guard Lynn Greer III (20 points) and senior guard Cameron Brown (14 points). Freshman forward Rasheer Fleming grabbed 12 rebounds, as the Hawks shot 47.5% from the field to Richmond’s 41.3%.

Sophomore guard Marcus Randolph, a former Archbishop Wood player, and senior center Neal Quinn led Richmond with 15 points each. Senior forward Tyler Burton added 10 points.

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Both teams got off to a slow start offensively as it took nearly three minutes to see the first basket. St. Joe’s missed its first five shots, while Richmond missed its first eight. The Hawks soon found a rhythm however, and jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

The two teams kept pace with each other after that run, resulting in a 35-28 Hawks lead at halftime.

The Hawks heavily outshot the Spiders in the opening half. St. Joe’s shot 45.5% and Richmond shot 35.5%.

Reynolds II was once again a bright spot for the Hawks in the first half, scoring 12 points and drilling his second consecutive halftime buzzer-beater at Hagan Arena.

In the second half, St. Joe’s took the game over with solid shooting and rebounding and secured a regular season victory in a game in which it never trailed.

The big difference was the 18-3 run that St. Joe’s went on early in the second half. During that run, the Spiders turned the ball over three times and were outrebounded, 10-3. In the second half, the Hawks outrebounded Richmond, 20-13.