St. Joseph’s moves on in A-10 men’s basketball tournament following 72-67 win over Loyola Chicago

NEW YORK — St. Joseph’s is moving on to the second round of the Atlantic 10 men’s tournament following a 72-67 win over No. 15 Loyola Chicago at Barclays Center on Tuesday.

The No. 10-seeded Hawks managed to hold onto a narrow lead, one cut to just two after a Ramblers three-pointer narrowed the deficit to 68-66 with just 37 seconds left.

St. Joe’s will now take on No. 7 George Washington in the second round on Wednesday (5 p.m., USA Network). The Hawks (15-16) have split the season with the Colonials (16-15), winning the last meeting, 81-69, at Hagan Arena on Feb. 11.

“I’m not easy to impress, but that was impressive for us to do it in the way we had to do it,” said St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange. “It starts with guard [play]. Hawk Hill has a tradition of amazing guards; we elevated these guys to believe they can be just like those guys [Loyola Chicago], and I thought they did a wonderful job on both ends of the floor.”

The last time these teams played, on Feb. 8, St. Joe’s took home an 83-71 victory on Loyola’s turf. The Hawks simply outshot the Ramblers (10-21), and it looked to be a similar showing on Tuesday.

The Hawks were letting their shots fly.

When it became apparent that the Ramblers could contest inside shots, St. Joe’s had to improvise, which meant shooting the three.

And for a team that shoots 33.2% from deep, St. Joe’s capitalized on the right looks.

“We really pride ourselves on our shooting,” said sophomore guard Lynn Greer III. “We work on shooting a lot and if teams are going to leave us open, we’re definitely going to let it fly, so I don’t advise them to do too much of that anymore.”

In the first half, the Hawks went 8-of-19 from three-point territory (42.1%).

Greer led the Hawks with 22 points, which included hitting all four of his three-pointers — all coming in the first half. Senior Cameron Brown contributed 16 points and Erik Reynolds II added 13.

The Ramblers’ Alston Philip carried the offensive load with 18 points. Braden Norris added eight assists.

After trailing, 33-27, at the half, the Ramblers came out of the locker room showing they weren’t going home easy.

Loyola made back-to-back threes in the opening minutes to tie the game, 33-33. The Ramblers took their first lead of the game (37-36), which came on a Philip layup to extend a 10-3 run.

However, the Hawks eventually put together a 12-4 run. And thanks to floor general Greer, St. Joe’s found a way to get inside the paint. They made 11 of 26 shots from the field in the second half.

One particular play, Greer drove inside, faked a shot in tough coverage, then passed low to Brown, who finished the play with a layup, increasing the lead to nine points — the Hawks’ largest of the game.

“This is a team we’ve played three times now,” Greer said. “They have a lot of film on us; us being able to come out and still run our offense is huge for us. That helps us going into our next game, so we know we can run our plays.”

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