ATLANTIC CITY -- Okay, time to take things up a notch. It's the Big 5's first entrant in this year's Atlantic 10 Tournament, and since most of you are probably stuck at your desks, I'll be here from start to finish blogging the game.
But be sure to check the posts below for more from Saint Louis-Dayton and Villanova-Syracuse.
And check the bottom of this post for the latest update on this game.
Pregame: About two minutes before tip, and this place is pretty empty. Not nearly as many Hawks fans as I expected, but there is a small contingent of St. Joe's students under the basket closer to the big wall mural. At least both bands are here, and maybe the place will fill up more as the game goes on.
Starting lineups
Fordham
F Sr 21 Michael Binns
F Sr 30 Sebastian Greene
F Sr 42 Bryant Dunston
G Sr 1 Marcus Stout
G Sr 14 Kevin Anderson
Saint Joseph's
F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G Jr 0 Tasheed Carr
G So 13 Darrin Govens
19:23 1st, 2-0 St. Joe's: Govens opens the scoring with two free throws after being fouled driving by Fordham's Kevin Anderson.
18:53 1st, 3-2 Fordham: Stout gets the Rams on the board with a three from the right side.
16:54 1st, 6-4 St. Joe's: A floater in the lane by Carr gives the Hawks the lead back.
14:50 1st, 10-4 St. Joe's: A Fordham turnover leads to a Pat Calathes layup.
14:03 1st, 10-5 St. Joe's: Ahmad Nivins picks up his first foul, blocking a driving Herb Tanner. But Tanner only makes the second free throw.
12:39 1st, 12-9 St. Joe's: Trapped against the Fordham baseline, Pat Calathes is forced to call a timeout.
12:09 1st, 12-11 St. Joe's: Out of the timeout, Garrett Williamson gets the ball with three seconds on the shot clock... and passes the ball to Calathes as the clock expires And he knew it. At the other end, Bryant Dunston makes a layup to bring Fordham within a point.
11:29 1st, 16-11 St. Joe's: Another Fordham turnover leads to a Williamson fastbreak. He dished a backwards bounce pass in the paint to Rob Ferguson, who was blocked going up by Sebastian Greene.
The Fordham fans behind me wanted a travel on Williamson; I'm not sure about that, though I did think Greene got the ball on the block. Coming out of the media timeout, Ferguson makes both free throws.
7:53 1st, 22-16 St. Joe's: Another media timeout, and as you can tell I'm having some trouble with the blogging software at the moment. So I'm going to need a minute to get it fixed...
6:50 1st, 27-18 St. Joe's: Rob Ferguson hits a three at the top of the arc, and a very angry Fordham coach Derek Whittenburg calls timeout.
5:41 1st, 30-18 St. Joe's: A three from the right side by Garrett Williamson pushes the Hawks' lead to double digits.
5:03 1st, 33-19 St. Joe's: Tasheed Carr double-pump-fakes and drains a pretty three right at the top of the arc.
3:52 1st, 38-19 St. Joe's: Another Carr three, another angry Whittenburg timeout. St. Joe's has outscored Fordham 16-3 in the last four minutes.
3:29 1st, 38-19 St. Joe's: Right at the end of the media timeout, one of the refs yelled at the Fordham mascot for staying on the court too long. The Ram duly high-stepped it off the floor in a hurry.
3:08 1st, 40-19 St. Joe's: Carr steals the ball and races away for an uncontested layup. Great job by the Hawks so far.
HALFTIME: 44-25 St. Joe's: A Pat Calathes layup with seven seconds on the clock rounded off the scoring, though Marcus Stout's buzzer-beating three was about an inch to the wrong side of the rim.
Here are the stats:
Fordham shot a paltry 8-for-21 from the field (38.1%), including 1-for-7 from three-point range (14.3%) and 7-for-14 from two-point range (50.0%), and 8-for-13 from the free throw line (61.5%). Three offensive rebounds, six defensive rebounds, six assists, eight turnovers, one block, three steals and seven fouls committed.
That adds up to 31 possessions and 0.788 points per possession.
St. Joe's shot an impressive 16-for-25 from the field (64.0%), including 5-for-8 from three-point range (62.5%) and 11-for-17 from two-point range (64.7%), and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line (100.0%). Three offensive rebounds, 11 defensive rebounds, seven assists, seven turnovers, two blocks and four steals.
That adds up to 32 possessions and 1.029 points per possession.
Tasheed Carr leads all scorers with 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. He also has four rebounds, five assists and two steals. Pat Calathes has 12 points and Rob Ferguson has 10. Ahmad Nivins has none, but this time it really doesn't matter.
Bryant Dunston leads Fordham with nine points on 3-for-6 shooting; he also has one assist, one block and one steal.
19:41 2nd, 46-25 St. Joe's: Rob Ferguson opens the scoring with a layup.
18:35 2nd, 49-27 St. Joe's: Bryant Dunston forces his way for a layup to score Fordham's first points of the half.
16:34 2nd, 53-27 St. Joe's: Nivins makes a pretty move to score his first points of the game.
15:00 2nd, 58-32 St. Joe's: A few seconds after an angry Fordham fan behind me yells "GET UP, WHITTENBERG!" Darrin Govens drives for a layup and Whittenberg indeed stands... to call a timeout.
11:40 2nd, 60-36 St. Joe's: A foul is called on Marcus Stout, and we head to a media timeout.
Kyle Whelliston is here, which I find rather amusing. I guess he really does like the Atlantic-Eastern-Southern-Midwestern 14 that much.
9:02 2nd, 64-38 St. Joe's: Idris Hilliard misses a long 2 from the top of the arc, but Ahmad Nivins puts it back and draws the foul from Sebastian Greene. And he makes the free throw.
7:27 1st, 72-43 St. Joe's: After making the free throw of a basket-and-one, Pat Calathes is subbed out by Phil Martelli for Edwin Lashley. If Martelli is able to get the rest of his regulars out too, that will go a long way in helping the Hawks maintain the energy needed to win four games.
5:49 2nd, 74-45 St. Joe's: And that's it for Ahmad Nivins, as Arvydas Lidzius comes in to replace him.
3:49 2nd, 74-51 St. Joe's: It's the last media timeout. Fordham hit a couple threes, and then threw up a few more that were nowhere close. The Fordham mascot walks out on the floor iwith a cardboard pair of scissors that read "HAWK CLIPPERS." A bit late for that... though he does a funny impression of the St. Joe's cheerleaders where he holds up one leg, then falls flat on his face.
2:53 2nd, 77-53 St. Joe's: Idris Hilliard throws down a strong slam, and even though it hit the basket after the shot clock expires the refs counted it anyway. Um.
1:32 2nd, 78-60 St. Joe's: Fordham's Sebastian Greene throws down a monster slam dunk, but gets whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim. Ouch.
1:08 2nd, 78-62 St. Joe's: Whittenberg subs out Bryant Dunston, who gets a nice ovation from the Fordham fans in attendance. He's a great athlete, no question about that, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if he goes on to play professionally somewhere on the planet in the years to come.
FINAL, 80-62 St. Joe's: C.J. Brown gets to dribble out the clock, as St. Joe's records a very impressive first-round win over Fordham. The Hawks will next face Richmond, tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
Stats to come in a bit. I'm off to record the press conferences.
