LAST TIME OUT: Langston Galloway scored a career-high 30 points to lead Saint Josephs to a 75-68 win over Boston University. Galloway shot 9-for-14 from the field, while making a career-best 6-of-8 three-point field goals. His last one came with 2:11 to play after BU had closed to within 66-61. Junior Carl Jones went over the 1,000-point mark for his career when he hit a jumper with :02 to go in the first half. He became the 48th Hawk to reach the milestone and just the 17th to do so in his junior season. Jones finished with 13 in the game to give him 1,0007 in his career. Galloway scored nine of the Hawks first 16 points as he paced SJU to an early 16-12 edge. After the teams exchanged leads for the rest of the half, the Hawks went on a 10-0 run in the final 3:45 of the half, capped off by Jones milestone basket, to take a 40-28 lead at the intermission. Saint Josephs shot 53.8 percent in the first half, while hitting 6-of-11 three-pointers, with Galloway making all three of his attempts. The Hawks stretched their lead to 14 (46-32) early in the second half, but saw the Terriers use a 10-3 run to close to 49-42. SJU built it back to double digits and took its biggest lead of the game, 64-49, on a layup by Chris Wilson. BU answered back with a 12-2 spurt and came within 66-61 before Galloway hit the three that gave the Hawks a 69-61 cushion. Saint Josephs would close out the game going 6-for-11 from the foul line, but it was still enough to preserve the win.
HOME SWEET HOME: The current five-game homestand marks only the second time in history that SJUhas played five in a row on campus. The last time was in February 1990 (10th thru 21st) and the Hawks posted a 2-3 record. Saint Josephs is also currently in the midst of a stretch of seven of eight games at home, which is the first time in school history this has occurred.
DEJAVU: Last season the Hawks faced Boston University and Creighton in back-to-back games, but it was in reverse order. SJUtraveled to Creighton on Dec. 11 and then to Boston on Dec. 21, losing both games. Saint Josephs defeated BU on Wednesday, 75-68.
FACE THE NATION: CJ Aiken is the nations leader in blocked shots (as of Dec. 5) with his average of 5.0 per game. The Hawks rank third as a team in the NCAA Statistics, averaging 8.6 blocks per game, behind Kentucky(10.9) and Connecticut (9.0).
REACHING THE MARK:Carl Jones went over the 1,000-point mark for his career when he hit a jumper with :02 to go in the half. He becomes the 48th Hawk to reach the milestone and just the 17th to do so in his junior season. Jones finished with 13 in the game to give him 1,0007 in his career. The last third-year player to reach the plateau was Ahmad Nivins in 2007-08.
LANGSTONS LINE: Langston Galloway had a career-best night in the win overBU, scoring 30 points. He tied his career-high with nine field goals made and six three-pointers made, while going 6-for-7 from the foul line. Coach PhilMartelli had been in Galloways ear after the loss to American, encouraging him to be more creative and mix up his shot selection. The sophomore followed the instructions and got to the foul line seven times after taking no free throws at American.
BLOCK PARTY: The Hawks put on a show against Drexel, registering a school-record 16 blocked shots. CJ Aiken tied his career-high with nine, including seven in the second half. The previous record was 12 against Cleveland State on December 2, 1987, when the Hawks all-time leader Rodney Blake had all 12 by himself. Saint Josephs is now averaging 8.3 blocks per game, which ranks third in the nation. Aiken is climbing the Hawks career list as he already has 162, which ranks him fifth all-time. The school record is 419 by Blake.
MORE ON CJ:Phil Martelli sees the difference in CJ Aikens game this year: I like that CJ is enjoying himself. I watched him from the ninth grade on and at times, it was a chore for him to play. Now he enjoys it. And what younger kids watching should realize is that he never shows out.He doesnt react on an alley-oop or a block. Hes a beautiful kid and Im delighted that hes having such a good start to the season and Ithink theres more there. He can do more.
DONT GO THERE: TheHawks are proving to have a strong inside presence on defense with shot-blocking expert CJ Aiken joined by Ronald Roberts and Halil Kanacevic. Aiken has a team-high 45 blocks, but Kanacevic has 12 and Roberts has posted seven. Phil Martelli credits the preseason strength program as getting Hawks ready for physical games such as the Drexel contest. Our strength coach Brian Bingaman got the guys ready for these kind of games in August and September. So that were not little boys with little bodies against big, strong guys. The athleticism that Ron and CJ have and the toughness of Halil – Ill take this frontcourt. I like what they bring, said Martelli.
ANOTHER CHALLENGE: The Hawks are also facing two of the nations top scorers in back-to-back games. The nations third leading scorer, Darryl Partin of BU, scored his average (24), but Langston Galloway forced him into 6-for-18 shooting. Creighton enters todays game with Doug McDermott average 23.7 points as the fourth leading scorer in the nation.
OFF THE MARK:A glaring deficiency in the loss to American was the Hawks shooting just 46.7% (7-for-15) from the foul line. It was the lowest free throw percentage in a game for the Hawks since a 28.6 percent effort (2-for-7) against Villanova last season. It improved in the Boston University win to 73.7 percent although the Hawks made just 4-of-9 in the final minute of play.
HAWKS VS. THE POLLS: Saint Josephs last victories over Top 25 teams came in 2007-08 when it defeated Xavier twice in a span of two weeks. The Hawks topped #8 Xavier, 71-66, on March 6, 2008, in the final game at Alumni Memorial Fieldhous and then beat the 12th-ranked Musketeers on March 14, 2008 in the A-10 Semifinals. Creighton is the first-ranked team the Hawks will face this year.
SOMETHING DIFFERENT: Looming for the Hawks after final exams is a date with rival Villanova. What makes the game even more special this year is that it will be held on SJUs campus for the first time in the history of the series. The contest is slated for Saturday, December 19 at 8 pm, with the telecast on CBSSports Network.