Newkirk’s nineteen points not enough

The St.  Joe’s men’s basketball team lost 67-56 to the University of Pennsylvania before  a packed Palestra on Jan. 27.

Both teams entered the game seeking their first Big 5 win, yet Penn ultimately found it. Led by sophomore A.J Brodeur’s 13 points and 11 rebounds, Penn was able to take advantage of St. Joe’s missteps  throughout the game.

“We played sloppy,” redshirt sophomore Pierfrancesco said Oliva. “I think that is what killed us tonight. We started forcing shots and didn’t move the ball well.”

St. Joe’s struggles can be traced back to three key factors: field goal efficiency, rebounding and lack of depth scoring.

The Hawks shot a paltry 30.9% from the field. This was due to Penn’s defense not allowing a lot of uncontested shots. 

Head Coach Phil Martelli looked at the lack of offense when reviewing the game.

“We didn’t have anybody play well offensively,” Martelli said. “We didn’t run a great offense. We aren’t winning games where we score 56 points. We need to get into the low 70s. We just weren’t good enough.”

The Hawks didn’t fare much better on the glass as they were outrebounded 51-36. In an even more impactful statistic, St. Joe’s came down with only eight offensive rebounds out of their 47 missed shots, leading to a number of offensive possessions ending after a single shot attempt.

“They crushed us on the glass,” Oliva said. “I can’t remember the last time we got outrebounded like that.”

Martelli credited Penn’s rebounding to the fact they had a lot of opportunities.

“When you take that many shots there are going to be rebounds,” Martelli said.

What seemed to separate the two teams was depth. Penn came into the game completely healthy and off of a weeklong rest. St. Joe’s has struggled with key injuries all year and were coming off of a hard fought road loss to Saint Bonaventure.

“St. Joe’s played Wednesday night in a game they probably should have won,” Penn head coach Steve Donahue said. “They come back here and we are rested. The rest was a big part of this game because they don’t have great depth and we have great depth and we are sitting here all week waiting for this game.”

This lack of depth showed  on the scoresheet as St. Joe’s failed to get any scoring from their bench. 53 of their 56 points came from four players. Senior Shavar Newkirk led the way with 19 points with 15 coming in the second half.

St. Joe’s must beat La Salle on Feb. 3 to avoid being swept by the Big 5 for the first time since the 2010-2011 season.

Despite the result, Oliva still reveled at the chance to play in the historic Palestra and its tight quarters that leave fans on top of the game.

“It’s very loud in here,” Oliva said. “We came from an away game at St. Bonaventure where it was insane, and the fans were really good. Penn is nothing less.”

The team returns home to Hagan Arena on Jan. 31 to take on Atlantic 10 foe Saint Louis University.