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Its not often in a game that begins with a 22-0 run right off the jump that the consensus is, it could have been worse. After all, it would seem that a Division I basketball team would score a few baskets by accident.
Nevertheless, there were many, many accidents in Saturday afternoons 65-47 victory by Saint Josephs over Penn State at the Hagan Arena, but not many of them found their way through the hoop. The Hawks nursed that 22-0 lead to a 33-10 tally at the half even though they went nearly nine minutes without a basket.
How is that possible? A 22-0 lead? Nine minutes without a basket?
It wasnt easy.
Penn State missed its first 17 shots and 34 of the 38 it took during the opening half. The teams leading scorer, Tim Frazier, missed his first 12 shots and finished with eight pointswell below his 21 points per game average. Meanwhile, St. Joes made eight of its first 14 shots over the first 8:33 to jump out to that gigantic lead.
Needless to say, coaches have a tendency to remember the extremes. For St. Joes coach Phil Martelli, there was the game against Villanova at the Palestra in 2003 when the Hawks jumped to a 40-9 lead, but in that one they didnt have a shutout going. There also was the fourth game of Martellis career at St. Joes on Dec. 21, 1995 where the score was 18-0 out of the gate against UC-Santa Barbara.
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I remember they came in and told us they didnt have any coats, Martelli recalled, perhaps wondering why folks would travel to Philadelphia in late December without winter gear.
Still, at 4-2 through the early portion of the season, Martelli knows the 22-0 early lead is not the real identity of his team. The Atlantic 10 season is still more than a month away and Villanova comes to Hawk Hill early this year: Dec. 17. Yes, the win is nice, but there is still much work to do.
I just liked that we were scoring and then we were defending and we werent getting ahead of ourselves, Martelli said. I was really pleased with the defense at the start of the game.
How did it go the rest of the game?
Not well, Martelli said. Im not going to make an excuse for them but it was their 14th straight day of basketball and to me the energy level wasnt as good during the second half.
St. Joes could have benefited from the circumstances. Though neither team has a senior on the roster, Martellis club is slightly more experienced than Patrick Chambers Penn State team. Moreover, Penn State was taking its first real road trip of the season, even though it was a home game of sorts for Chambers, who knows all about St. Joes from his time playing for Herb Magee at Philadelphia University and coaching under Jay Wright at Villanova. Inexperience and a road trip early in the season make for some tough basketball.
The road is hard in college basketball, Martelli said. Ill admit to you that I still feel the effects of Wednesday night because we were on the road at Iona. Road games are hard and when its your first time out.
Chambers didnt argue against that idea.
We thought if we could hang with them for the first eight minutes we could give them a game, the first-year Penn State coach said. Thats what happens when youre a young team and on the road. We have to learn from this and get better from it and we will.
Of course, St. Joes players had something to do with that, too. For the Hawks, C.J. Aiken, a 6-foot-9 sophomore from Plymouth-Whitemarsh High, opened the game with a three-pointer from the corner then got the fans out of their seats with a thunderous dunk three minutes into the game to make it 10-0.
Aiken scored 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting -- four dunks, two three-pointers -- but Martelli says he really made a difference on the defensive end of the floor. Thats where Aikens wiry body and long arms dissuaded Penn State from attempting to stray too far into the paint.
Considering Penn State shot just 2 for 9 from the paint during the first half, Aikens presence was felt ... by both teams.
Hes enjoying basketball more. I think he likes his teammates. I think he likes the fact that were counting on him, Martelli said. Hes such a presence defensively that he sets the tone in the game. I like the fact that he feels comfortable and these guys look for him. The beauty of C.J. is that he doesnt change. That dunk in the first half, I dont know if I saw one better in my 27 years and all he did was run down the court. Hes a neat guy and hes developing into a really nice player.
St. Joes had 12 blocks with four each for Aiken and 6-foot-8 sophomore Halil Kanacevic, but they allowed 12 offensive rebounds during the first half. That didnt seem to irk Martelli as much as the 11 turnovers in the second half.
We will be aggressive in changing that, Martelli promised.
Penn State was led in scoring by Billy Oliver who scored all 12 of his points off three-pointers. After the 0-for-12 start, Frazier ended up shooting 4 for 19 with 11 rebounds and six assists.
If we could just throw out that first 10 minutes, Chambers said.
This was a great game for us. To go on the road in a packed house is exactly what we needed. St. Joes is a year older and a year wiser and they showed it.
E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com