St. Joe’s hands Princeton its first loss, 74-70

Erik Reynolds II made 6 of 6 free throws down the stretch Sunday as St. Joseph’s outlasted Princeton, 74-70, at Hagan Arena. The Hawks have won five straight.

St. Joe’s (8-2) handed Princeton its first defeat after nine straight wins.

“Princeton is a great team, not a good team,” Hawks coach Billy Lange said. “We had to play really well tonight, and we played well when we needed to. This is a good win for us right now.”

Reynolds paced the Hawks with 21 points. Lynn Greer III added a season-high 18 points, three assists, and four steals. Rasheer Fleming blocked three Princeton shots.

“We came out, played St. Joe’s basketball, did what we had to do, and executed,” Reynolds said.

Xaivian Lee paced the Tigers with 20 points and nine rebounds. Dalen Davis added 13 points on 5 of 5 shooting from the field.

Xzayvier Brown (10 points) hit a three-pointer to give the Hawks a 33-31 lead at the break.

Princeton came out hot in the second half, going on an 11-3 scoring run to put the Tigers up by six. St. Joe’s bounced back and there were eight lead changes after intermission.

A three-pointer from St. Joe’s Cam Brown (11) tied the score at 68 with 2 minutes, 11 seconds left to play. Reynolds sealed things for the Hawks with his clutch foul shooting.

St. Joe’s will play Iona in the Holiday Hoopfest at 7 p.m. Saturday in Elmont, N.Y.