St. Joseph’s has ‘refined’ its game, starting at the top. The results were on display against Loyola Chicago.

It’s been a season of refinement for the men’s basketball program at St. Joseph’s. As the youngest team in the Atlantic 10, and with their one fifth-year player in his first season with the program, the Hawks have experienced the ebbs and flows that accompany a still-growing team.

St. Joe’s (11-6, 2-2 A-10) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 93-57 win over Loyola Chicago on Saturday at Hagan Arena. The Ramblers (10-6, 1-2) were only one game removed from a four-game losing streak of their own entering the game.

Now four games into its conference slate, St. Joe’s is continuing to clean up its game, starting at the top with coach Billy Lange.

“All the things that are being refined in us as a group and in all of us as individuals, and to see the way that these guys continue to have the faith they have in each other, have in St Joe’s University, have in our program, to see our staff grow and mature and learn how to lead them for what they need right now is really fun for me to watch, and it’s rewarding,” Lange said. “It’s hard. Losing is hard. Winning is hard. But when you see those moments, and you see the refining, regardless of what the result of the game was tonight, it’s rewarding, given everything that we’ve had to do here.”

The Hawks’ skid prompted some “soul searching” for Lange, who found he sometimes was “tricking” himself.

“What’s going on right now is I’m looking at a really good team,” Lange said. “We’re young. [Xzayvier Brown] has been injured. And I don’t like the attitude. Not because they’re bad guys. They have more in them because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it here against Villanova. So I’m like, ‘Where do I need to grow? How do I help them learn to be aggressive and attack?’ And we’re just going to live with the results.”

So after the pair of losses, Lange began refining his approach, coaching a game in which he refused to be “tricked or confused.”

And it worked. The Hawks quickly shook off the road trip and saw improved play from underclassmen and newcomers, starting with Brown.

Brown was limited in their first two A-10 games after missing the three prior games with a hamstring injury. But to Lange, it goes even deeper than that.

“‘X’ missed six weeks of practice,” he said. “Nobody talks about that. He missed six weeks of practice. He missed three with a thumb injury, and he missed three with a hamstring injury. He’s behind where he probably would have been.”

But even seemingly behind in his development this season, Brown and junior Rasheer Fleming undoubtedly are the leaders, particularly on offense.

Brown was responsible for half of the first 20 points the Hawks scored on Saturday and finished with 20.

“A quote, I would say, that goes around our program is ‘One man with courage makes a majority,’” said guard Erik Reynolds II. “Today, ‘X’ was the first pit bull. As soon as he attacked, we all attacked.”

Reynolds put up 18 and moved into fourth overall for career scoring just 11 minutes into the first half.

He then hit his 300th career three with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left in the half. It made him the second Hawks player in program history to reach 300 career three-pointers.

Derek Simpson, a transfer from Rutgers, had a season-high 19 points. Fleming rounded out the double-figure scoring with 14 points and added nine rebounds. Justice Ajogbor, who transferred from Harvard, had four blocks and three steals.

“The new guys, the trend with Derek and Justice, since the Big 5 championship to now, I feel like, regardless [of] what the result of some of the games have been, they’ve been really consistent, particularly Justice,” Lange said. “As soon as they start to understand styles of play and conference affiliations and their teammates, their experience then kicks in.”

Lange noted the younger players’ progress as well.

“Dasear [Haskins], Anthony [Finkley], Shawn [Simmons II], I mean, these guys are all growing, like crazy. I feel that it’s about where it probably should be,” Lange said. “I think it’d be a little better if ‘X’ had been healthy. That would have changed things, but it all works out.”

Saturday’s win was more than just a bounce back from a bad road trip. It was a display of quick change, starting from the top with Lange as the orchestrator and down to the young guys on his roster.

Now, the trick is to quickly learn from what went right and deliver yet again when St. Joe’s hosts VCU on Friday at Hagan Arena (7 p.m., ESPNU).