St. Joe’s hoops coach Billy Lange’s 200th win is certainly one he won’t soon forget

Coach Billy Lange’s 200th win as a head coach and St. Joseph’s first Atlantic 10 victory of the season came with all the makings of a memorable game: a technical foul called on Lange, a broken whiteboard, and a milestone for one of his players.

The Hawks beat Massachusetts, 81-72, Tuesday at Hagan Arena. UMass (5-9) kept it close in the conference opener for both teams, especially in the first half, thanks to its rebounding. While both teams ended the first half with 26 boards each, 14 of them were offensive rebounds for the Minutemen. But Lange got the message across during halftime, with St. Joe’s (10-4) giving up two offensive rebounds in the second half.

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“I’ve learned that through this season, my type of leadership is you’re going to show me what you need and then I’m going to give you what you need,” Lange said. “That’s what the group needs. And so they needed a whiteboard thrown on the ground. I wasn’t really trying to break it because I’m telling you it’s so old and it’s not one of the better quality ones. It didn’t take much, but we gave up two [offensive rebounds] in the second half, so we’ll live with that.”

As for the technical foul, Lange said it was just the second of his career, which followed a foul called on junior Rasheer Fleming and another on fifth-year player Justice Ajobor. Both times, Lange said he expressed how he thought the plays were legal but the referees disagreed, and Lange said he thinks they “had enough of” him and “wanted to make a point.”

“I’m embarrassed because I represent St Joe’s, and so it’s not, not about me, and if we lost that game by one point, I would feel horrible,” Lange said. “So I want to say that that won’t happen again, but sometimes my passion gets the best of me.”

With his first three-pointer 12 minutes into the game, senior guard Erik Reynolds II tied Pat Carroll’s mark for second in program history. With his second three, five minutes into the second half, Reynolds surpassed Carroll.

Reynolds, usually the star player for Hawks struggled with his shooting during nonconference games, contributing to the inconsistency the team was facing. Lucky for the Hawks, he seemed to correct that issue just in time for the conference slate.

In lieu of the big numbers Reynolds put up consistently last season, other players like sophomore Xzayvier Brown and Fleming have come up big for the Hawks. Tuesday’s performance against the Minutemen proved that the Hawks can be counted on not only to pick up for Reynolds on off days but to contribute alongside him as well. Five players finished in double figures with Fleming pacing the Hawks with 16, Reynolds following with 14, and Brown, sophomore Anthony Finkley, and freshman Dasear Haskins each putting up 11. Finkley credits the trio of Fleming, Brown, and Reynolds as a big reason for the balanced scoring.

“We’ve got three guys, potentially NBA players. So, I mean, they’ll open up stuff for us,” Finkley said. “They pay attention more to Erik or X, for sure. I mean, they give me space to shoot.”

Finkley went 3-for-5 shooting while Justice Ajogbor had season highs in rebounds (10) and points (nine).

“I feel like I’m probably in the best shape of my life right now and just really having great teammates is going to push me in practice,” Ajogbor said. “I just keep getting better every day, both practices and games. So, yeah, it’s been a lot of basketball, but just me getting a lot better as well.”

Archbishop Wood graduate Rahsool Diggins had a game-high 33 points for the Minutemen.

St. Joe’s announced on social media before the game that freshman Steven Solano would be taking a leave of absence from the team due to personal reasons.

The Hawks will return to the floor on Jan. 3, when they take on St. Louis on the road (9 p.m., ESPN+).

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