Dayton improves to 16-5 overall and 8-1 in Atlantic 10 play, setting up a key battle of two of the league’s top teams when UD goes up against first place St. Bonaventure this Saturday at UD Arena. The 49ers drop to 15-9 overall and 7-3 in the A-10.

The 91 points was the Flyers’ third highest total this season. Senior Justine Raterman and freshman Andrea Hoover scored 18 points, and junior Sam MacKay put up a career-high 16 points. Senior Patrice Lalor and freshman Ally Malott each added 10 points.

Senior Elle Queen and Lalor dished five assists each to pace the Flyers and MacKay added four dimes.

Dayton outboarded Charlotte, the Atlantic 10 leader in rebounding, 42-39. Queen and Olivia Applewhite paced UD with six boards each. Senior Casey Nance, Raterman and MacKay all had five rebounds each. Nance also had two blocks, giving her 205 career blocks, just 17 shy of the all-time record. Malott added a career-high three blocked shots.

The Flyers shot 46.5 percent from the field (33-of-71) and also had just 11 turnovers, their second lowest total this season. UD outscored the 49ers 19-9 on points off turnovers and 33-12 on fastbreak points.

Charlotte started the game with a 4-0 lead but the Flyers didn’t panic. UD used a 9-0 run and, in the midst of it, gained the lead and never lost it.

The 49ers got within two points to make it 11-9 with 14:31 left in the half, but Dayton used another run, this time a 10-0 spurt over the next three minutes to go up 21-9.

A three-pointer by MacKay to close out the half gave UD a commanding 50-32 lead.

The Flyers led by as many as 27 after Lalor knocked down a jumper to bring the score to 73-46 with 7:53 left in the game.

Charlotte had three, 3-point plays to close out the game and get within 23 points.  Jennifer Hailey led the 49ers with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

The Flyers host league-leading No. 25 St. Bonaventure (22-2, 9-0 A-10) this Saturday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. at UD Arena. Following the game, the UD women will hold a free basketball clinic, in association with the Montgomery County Developmental Disabilities Services.

Courtesy of Manhattan athletics

By Paul Casey Gotham

A casual fan might not even notice. At least not until one glances at the box score. Then it is hard to ignore the impact George Beamon has upon the success of the Manhattan Jaspers.  His game isn’t one that captures the glare of the camera. He dwells not in the arena of highlight reel dunks or spectacular long range shots. Rather Beamon’s is a game that consists of the subtleties many thought were a thing of the past. Nonetheless, Beamon posts double-digit performances in a manner that would get him a mention with tariffs and one’s earthly demise.

At 6’4″ and 170 pounds, he does not strike an intimidating pose. But Beamon has proven that a player can do more with less, and that is a primary reason the Jaspers can once again consider post-season aspirations.

“He’s very efficient,” said first-year Manhattan coach Steve Masiello. “He doesn’t need a lot of shots to score big numbers. He can go out and get you 25 points on 14 shots.”

Beamon’s efficiency stretches back to at least January 11th of last season, a span which includes 39 games that the junior has scored in double figures.

This season has presented an additional challenge to that run.

Leading a lineup consisting of six players accounting for six points or more per contest, Beamon has been asked to play less. The junior averages 31.8 minutes per game this year, down five from his 36.8 a season ago. Despite the decrease in time, Beamon has increased his production currently scoring 17.8 as opposed to his 16.3 a year ago. He is doing that while taking one fewer shot per contest than he did a year ago. The Roslyn, New York native has also improved his assists from 1.3 to 2.0.

“He’s very low maintenance,” Masiello explained.  “Where he’s really gotten better is playing without the basketball. You’ll see him moving now a lot more. He’s learning how to be a playmaker and get guys involved.”

Beamon turned in a season-high 33 points when the Jaspers visited the Koessler Athletic Center in late January to take on the Canisius Golden Griffins.  His scoring-to time on the court production reached a one-to-one ratio as he scored a point for every minute he played that night. But the shooting guard didn’t stop there. He grabbed eight rebounds, dished out two assists, blocked two shots and had three steals, all this without turning over the ball once or committing a foul.

“This league is very good,” Masiello said about the MAAC after the victory over Canisius. “”There are a lot of great players. What he means to us is more than any other player means for their team. I’m lucky to have him.”

It wasn’t a game that started well for Beamon. After connecting on his first shot of the night, he missed his next five en route to scoring nine in the first stanza.  Beamon heard it from his coach at halftime.

“Coach got on me,” Beamon commented. “I needed that. It woke me up.”

“What’s so great about him is he takes coaching so well,” Masiello added. “I haven’t seen too many talented guys like him. He wants that feedback. Most kids go home and call their boys. He’s the complete opposite.”

Beamon’s 24-point second-half outburst came against team that has made their mark shutting down the opposition’s leading scorer. Despite their 1-12 mark, the Golden Griffins have held MAAC leading scorer, Michael Glover, 12 below his season average of 18. Niagara’s Juan’ya Green came to the KAC as the leading freshmen scorer in the nation. He, too, left with just six points.

“My teammates found me,” Beamon said after the game. “I hit some open shots. It’s a collective effort. Credit goes to my team and my coach.”

Beamon let the game come to him and picked his spots throughout the second half. First he got ahead of the pack and hit a runner in the lane. Then came a jumper from 12 feet. Next he used a dribble to create space for pull up jumper on the baseline. When the defense collapsed in the lane, Beamon responded with a catch-and-shoot three again along the baseline.

“His mid-range game is terrific, and it always has been. He is a one, two-dribble guy,” Masiello continued. “What he has done this year a little bit better is he is stepping out and shooting the long ball. He’s shooting with a lot of confidence.”

Beamon mentioned the off-season conditioning program instilled by Masiello and his staff for his success. One of the routines he used was an eight-spot shooting drill to develop his footwork and movement off the ball at the same time working on his stamina.

“It was torture,” Beamon said of the conditioning. “But it pays off. Everybody is in great shape on this team. Some games we are not even supposed to win, but our conditioning gets us past the fact that we are having a bad game. It’s a weapon.”

Manhattan has already won as many games this year as they have the last two seasons combined. It’s been six years since the Jaspers appeared in the N.I.T and eight since getting invited to the NCAA tournament. That streak should end soon. And George Beamon, an old-fashioned assassin, will be leading the charge.

Courtesy A-10 Conference

By Aaron M Smith

**** Welcome to the Pickin’ Splinter’s Who am I for A-10 women’s basketball. Each week we will highlight an A-10 player or coach past or present. Your mission should you choose to accept will be to take the set of clues and figure out who the player/coach is.  Now let’s lay the ground rules for this exercise. First and foremost try this without research. Release your inner James Joyce and show us your stream of consciousness as you decipher the answer. Add to that the teachings of Myagi: patience. If you don’t get the answer right away, give your brain a chance to work if for no other reason than to stay in the discussion. You may not have THE answer, but you might prompt another reader by asking the right question. Good luck !

Now that everyone has gotten rid of their Super Bowl hangover, let’s get down to business. To figure out who I am, you better have your thinking cap on and be prepared to look under the green clover.  I started all 122 games of my college career.  I finished my four years scoring 2,340 points, good for third all-time in the Atlantic 10.  Now I know what you are saying, you play that much you had better score. Well I not only left my school as the leading scorer in each of four years, I also led my team in rebounding. I am the only player in my alma mater’s history to accomplish that feat. In fact when I graduated, I left with eight school records. In my senior year I was named Player of the Year – twice.  More importantly I was as good a student as I was an athlete. I was named the A-10′s Student-Athlete Player of Year twice.   After graduating I played professionally both in the WNBA and overseas. Later I was fortunate to have my number retired by the university, and I was inducted into two Hall of Fames. I am not telling you where, that would be too easy! Now I am an assistant coach in the college ranks. Just how serious am I about my academics? In 2007, I graduated with my masters in business administration. Oh and one last thing – if you know whiskey, you know where I am from.

Who am I?

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. –

The ranking is also a first for any Big 4 women’s basketball team, and marks the first time in more than 40 years that a Big 4 basketball team is nationally ranked. The Bonaventure men were the last Big 4 school to be ranked in January 1971 – a season before the women’s program at Bona even existed.

“The ranking is a great piece of national recognition that our players have worked extremely hard to achieve,” head coach Jim Crowley said. “While we’re certainly excited and proud of the ranking, we need to make sure that our focus remains on the next game.”

The Bonnies – who sit atop the Atlantic 10 Conference standings as the lone unbeaten team at 9-0 – are coming off an 80-69 win over George Washington Saturday afternoon. The victory against the Colonials stretched SBU’s winning streak to 11 straight, tying the 2009-10 team’s start for the most consecutive wins in program history.

Bonaventure’s 22 victories are the third-most in the nation, behind only No. 1 Baylor (23-0) and No. 2 Notre Dame (23-1).

St. Bona is 9-2 against top-100 teams in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), which is a main ranking utilized by the NCAA Tournament selection committee when choosing its postseason participants. Bona’s only two losses this year have come to RPI #6 Delaware and RPI #16 Villanova, and it was missing a starter in both of those games due to injury.

Bonaventure returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Massachusetts to face the Minutewomen in the first game of a road doubleheader with the men.

The Bonnies will be looking to keep the nation’s best road record intact as they enter the contest with a 10-0 mark in road contests. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. as St. Bonaventure plays its first-ever game as a nationally ranked team.

C.J. McCollum filled up the stat sheet once again with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals. (Photo courtesy of Lehigh Sports)

Courtesy of LehighSports.com.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s basketball team used a 15-4 first-half run to open a 40-25 halftime advantage before rolling in the second, as the Mountain Hawks (18-6, 6-2 Patriot League) downed Holy Cross (9-13, 3-5), 75-51, on Saturday in Stabler Arena. Lehigh was led by junior C.J. McCollum, who filled up the stat sheet once again with 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals to lead the Mountain Hawks to their fourth straight win.
“I was pleased with our defensive effort,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “I thought we were really glued in. People were in the right positions and because we trusted our system and trusted each other, when opportunities came for steals, our deflections became very important because they created transition opportunities along with negating their shot attempts.”

McCollum finished 9-of-18 from the field while narrowly missing his third straight double-double. Junior Holden Greiner added 15 on 4-of-5 shooting and 2-of-3 from long range while Gabe Knutson posted 12 points to pull within 23 of 1,000 for his career. Senior John Adams impressed off the bench with eight points and eight rebounds as well.

Lehigh avenged its 84-78 to the Crusaders on Jan. 7 by playing stellar defense, holding Holy Cross to 51 points, the third straight game the Mountain Hawks have held an opponent to 64 or fewer. The win was Lehigh’s fourth in a row, the squad’s longest streak since winning six straight from Nov. 15 through Dec. 1.

A strong Mountain Hawks’ defense held preseason All-League honoree Devin Brown to only 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting while 1,000-point scorer R.J. Evans only had seven via 3-of-7 from the floor. Mike Cavataio led the way for Holy Cross with 12 points.

The game was extremely physical with 39 total fouls called, including five players who had four personal fouls (four on Holy Cross and one on Lehigh).

“We dropped the decision at Holy Cross, which is one we were disappointed about,” said Reed. “We didn’t feel we played as well as we were capable of in the beginning of that game. We cut into the deficit, but built too big of a hole. Our guys understood that they let an opportunity slip away and they were very determined and focused to make sure that didn’t happen again tonight.”

Both teams went back and forth in the early going. An R.J. Evans layup gave the Crusaders a 4-3 lead, but Lehigh used a McCollum jumper and two Greiner free throws to go up 7-4 with 16:29 on the clock. Holy Cross used a 7-0 run to go up 11-7 before the Mountain Hawks quickly tied it following a Mackey McKnight fastbreak layup.

The sides went back and forth in the ensuing minutes. Then with the Mountain Hawks leading 23-20, Lehigh’s offense caught fire, scoring 17 points in the final 4:44 (while only allowing five) to open a 15-point, 40-25 lead after 20 minutes of play. McCollum caught fire with eight points in that stretch, including a steal and fastbreak dunk to get the crowd to its feet. McKnight also knocked down a three-pointer with time expiring to cap off five Lehigh points in the final 16 seconds.
The lead hovered between 12 and 17 for the opening 10 minutes of the second half before the Mountain Hawks used a 15-1 run to turn a 55-42 advantage to 70-43 with 4:55 left in the second. The run spanned 6:14 as Knutson scored 10 of the 17 points, including eight straight.

The Mountain Hawks easily held on the rest of the way for their eighth 20-point win of the season. In total, 16 of the team’s 18 victories have come by double figures.

Lehigh finished at 46 percent from the field (25-of-54) and 32 percent from three-point range (7-of-22) while Holy Cross shot 36 percent (18-of-50) and 26 percent from long distance (5-of-19). The Mountain Hawks won the battle of the boards, 37-32.

The Mountain Hawks hit the road on Thursday when they travel to American for a key showdown against the Eagles. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. Lehigh returns home next Saturday (Feb. 11) for a 7 p.m. tip against Stabler Arena. Admission for that game will be FREE for all as part of Fan Appreciation Night. Fans can claim their tickets on Lehighsports.com. Tickets for all home games may be purchased on Lehighsports.com or by calling the ticket office at (610) 7LU-GAME.

Like Lehigh Men’s Basketball on Facebook for exclusive content, team updates and more: http://www.facebook.com/LehighMensBasketball

EASTON, Pa. — The Navy men’s basketball team made just 4-of-16 second-half shots and Lafayette outscored the Midshipmen, 29-17, in the second half to ease to a 62-41 decision over the Midshipmen on Saturday afternoon at the Kirby Sports Center.

The loss drops Navy to 3-19 overall and 0-8 in the Patriot League. Lafayette improved to 10-13 overall and 5-3 in the league standings.

Navy trailed just 33-24 at halftime and got within 33-28 on its first two possessions of the second half, but then went scoreless for the next six-and-a-half minutes as Lafayette turned a five-point cushion into a 17-point lead on the strength of a 12-0 run to take a 45-28 lead.

Navy scored the next five points to trim the margin to 45-33 with 12:01 to play on a Brandon Venturini (Fr. / Allendale, Mich.) three-pointer, but Lafayette scored the next 10 points to take its largest lead of the game at 55-33 with 5:44 left.

Navy would end the game making just one field goal in the last 12 minutes and finished the second half just 4-of-16 (.250) from the field.

Navy also plagued itself with 20 turnovers, 12 of which came in the first half. Lafayette turned the 20 turnovers into 26 points.

“We just turned the ball over entirely too many times this afternoon. We thought to win the game, we had to keep the game in the 50s, low 60s and we did that, but unfortunately, we didn’t take care of the basketball and that led to our demise,” said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.

Navy also was playing the game without sophomore J.J. Avila (McAllen, Texas), who leads the team in points, rebounds and assists. Avila was suspended indefinitely earlier this week by the Naval Academy for a violation of Academy rules.

Avila was averaging 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists in Patriot League play at the time of his suspension.

“When you lose a player of J.J.’s status and scoring ability, you are taking at least 18 points out of the lineup. It was imperative that we play slow and limit possessions. But we have to take care of the ball to play that way. It wasn’t so much our defense tonight, but our offense enabled them to get some easy baskets,” added DeChellis.

Navy led 10-9 early on, but the Leopards countered with a 16-5 run over eight-plus minutes for a 25-15 lead with 3:39 left. The two teams played even the rest of the half as Lafayette led 33-24 at halftime.

Navy shot just 14-of-38 (.368) from the field, 3-of-11 (.273) from three-point range and 10-of-18 (.556) from the free throw line. The Mids had just five assists against 20 turnovers and outrebounded Lafayette, 30-25.

Lafayette shot 24-of-49 (.490) from the field, 9-of-22 (.409) from three-point range and were just 5-of-6 (.833) from the free throw line. Lafayette was guilty of 13 turnovers.

Isaiah Roberts (So. / Pennsauken, N.J.) led Navy in points (7), rebounds (5) and assists (2). Venturini had six points on a pair of three-pointers. No other player scored more than four points for the Midshipmen, which got just 16 points from its starters, 25 from its bench personnel.

Nick Petkovich led Lafayette with 11 points off the bench.

Navy will host Holy Cross on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, tipping off at 7:00 pm. For ticket information, call 1-800-US4-NAVY or visit the Alumni Hall box office one hour prior to tip off on Saturday night.

# GO NAVY #

PHILADELPHIA – La Salle women’s basketball standout Kelly Greenberg will be inducted into the Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Fame on February 21 in a luncheon at the Palestra, it was announced today. Greenberg was a two-time All-Big 5 selection and helped the Explorers to three Big 5 Championships and NCAA Tournaments as a player from 1985-89.

She joins her brother Chip, a La Salle point guard from 1982-86, in the Big 5 Hall of Fame. The Greenbergs are one of three sibling combinations in the Big 5 Hall of Fame, joining Bill (Temple) and Bob Mlkvy (Penn) and Joe (Villanova) and Ellen Ryan (Saint Joseph’s).

Greenberg, currently the head women’s basketball coach at Boston University, set La Salle records for assists in a game (19), season (190) and career (512). She currently stands in second in all three categories.

The first Explorer to record a triple-double, Greenberg shot 51.6% from three-point range during her career which still stands on top of the La Salle record books. She was named to the All-MAAC second team as a senior in 1989 after captaining the team to a 28-3 record. During her four years at La Salle, Greenberg’s teams had a 95-24 record.

The Blue and Gold won the MAAC in 1986, 1988 and 1989 to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. As a senior, she helped the team defeat Connecticut in the first round before falling to Tennessee.

Greenberg was also a four-year starter for La Salle’s field hockey team.

Greenberg has coached at the collegiate level for 20 years, and has led Boston University to two WNIT appearances and 126 wins in seven seasons. During five years at Penn, Greenberg guided the Quakers to two Ivy League Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances.

During her scholastic career, Greenberg excelled at basketball, field hockey and softball at Archbishop Wood High School in Philadelphia. In 2010, she had her No. 32 jersey retired joining just two other female athletes – Debbie Black of the WNBA and Kelly’s sister, Kathy. Kelly is a member of the Archbishop Wood’s alumni hall of fame.

She will be joined in the induction class by Marc Jackson (Temple), Matt Maloney (Penn), Melissa Coursey (Saint Joseph’s), and Jenn Beisel (Villanova).

The luncheon begins at 11:30 AM. Tickets for the general public are $40 each.  Contact Steve Crider at the Big 5 office for tickets at steve@philadelphiabig5.org.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. –  Derek Needham scored a career-high 32 points, making 11 of 16 field goals and six of 11 three pointers, to lift the Fairfield University men’s basketball team to a 77-69 win over Niagara University. The point total was the most by a Stag since Mike Evanovich also posted 32 points in an overtime win against George Mason University in the 2010 CollegeInsider Tournament.

Niagara opened the game with four points to take an early advantage. Derek Needham put together his own personal scoring string with five straight points to give the Stags the first lead of the game at 5-4 with 18 minutes remaining in the game. There would be five more lead changes the rest of the half until the 8:28 mark.

Fairfield gained the lead a few minutes earlier after Rakim Sanders made a jumper at the 10:57 mark to put the team in front 17-16. Neither team managed any points until there was 8:28 left in the first half when Malcolm Lemmons laid the ball in the basket to give the Purple Eagles an 18-17 advantage. Niagara would not give up the lead the rest of the half, leading by as many as five points with 1:45 on the clock.

The Stags cut the lead down to a point over the next 60 seconds as Ryan Olander and Rakim Sanders both converted one-and-one opportunities to make the score 32-31 with 28 seconds remaining. Lemmons struck again with two seconds remaining, hitting a running one-hander in the middle of the paint to send Niagara into the locker room with a 34-31 edge.

Sanders and Needham paced the Fairfield offense with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Needham made four of six field goal attempts and two of four three-point shots before having to sit the final five minutes with two fouls. Lemmons was the only Niagara scorer to reach double figures, netting 11 points in the opening 20 minutes.

The second half started well for the Stags as they scored the first four points of the half off a Sanders dunk and a Needham layup and took the lead at 35-34. It would be the first of seven consecutive lead changes between the two teams as they exchanged baskets on seven straight possessions. The Purple Eagles broke serve when they were only able to make one of two free throws which kept Fairfield in front by a point at 44-43.

Fairfield finally made a slight separation from its opponent with a 12-4 run that was capped by Wade’s three pointer that put the home team in front 56-47 with 7:30 remaining. Niagara made a quick run to cut the lead to five points at 58-53 with four minutes left. Antoine Mason scored four points during that spurt, but Needham knocked down a three pointer to push the lead back to eight points at 61-53 with 3:55 on the clock.

The exclamation on this result came with three minutes to go when Needham beat the shot clock buzzer with a three pointer as he was falling out of bounds, giving Fairfield its biggest lead at 64-55.Needham eclipse the 30-point mark when he made a pair of free throws to improve the lead to 66-56 with two minutes left.

Sanders finished the game with another double-double, tallying 14 points and 14 rebounds. Wade also reached double figures with 15 points, highlighted with three three-point baskets. Ameen Tanksley registered a double-double for Niagara with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Mason led all Purple Eagle scorers with 16 points.

The Stags return to action on Sunday afternoon when they host Siena College for a 3:30 tip at Webster Bank Arena.

Lamont "Momo" Jones shot 16-for-23 from the field, 7-for-12 from beyond the arc, 9-for-11 from inside it and 4-of-5 from the line. (Photo courtesy of ICGaels.com)

Courtesy of ICGaels.com.

NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Junior Lamont “Momo” Jones’ 43-point effort and double-doubles by seniors Mike Glover and Scott Machado led the Iona College men’s basketball team to a 105-86 win over Canisius in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action. Jones set a Hynes Center record with the point total and is the first Gael to reach 40+ points in more than 20 seasons.

Jones broke Steve Burtt’s building record of 40 points set on Feb. 1, 1984, nearly 28 years to the day vs. Holy Cross. Remarkably, Burtt and former Iona great Gary Springer were on campus this afternoon and had an opportunity to speak with Jones before the game. He was the first Iona player since Sean Green poured in 43 points vs. Siena during the MAAC Championship on Mar. 3, 1991. Both Green and Jones’ efforts were surpassed only by Warren Isaac’s school record 50 points vs. Bates on Dec. 18, 1964.

Jones shot 16-for-23 from the field, 7-for-12 from beyond the arc, 9-for-11 from inside it and 4-of-5 from the line. The seven three-pointers was also a career-best and he added four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Machado scored 14 points, dished out 14 assists and grabbed six rebounds. It was his ninth double-double of the year. Glover netted 12 points and had 11 rebounds with four assists and two steals. It was Glover’s team-best 11th double-double of the season, fourth straight and fifth in the last six games. Junior Taaj Ridley and sophomore Sean Armand posted eight points apiece off the bench.

Iona’s 105 points was a season-high and the fourth 100+ effort of the season. The last time the Gaels scored as many as 105 points was a 105-61 win over Bucknell at the Hynes Center on Dec. 2, 2000 at the Hynes Center. It was the 20th time in school history (19-1 record) that the Maroon & Gold netted 105 or more.

It was an evenly matched contest in the first half with both teams scoring at a frenetic pace. There were seven total lead changes and six tie scores. Iona’s 51.3 shooting percentage was surpassed by Canisius’ 56.3% in the frame. Jones scored 20 points and was nearly matched by the Griffs’ Gaby Belardo 19. The Gaels’ led by as many as six points in on two occasions in the final 90 seconds. Belardo’s layup with three ticks left made the score 51-47 going into halftime.

Canisius tied the score seven times in the first 6:26 of the second half but never took the lead. Alshwan Hymes made the score 69-69 with 13:44 remaining. The Gaels followed with 10 straight points over the next 70 seconds including eight by Jones alone. His tip-in with 13:17 left gave Iona the lead for good, and the junior his career-high with his 29th point. The run followed with two Jones’ three pointers with two free throws by Ridley sandwiched in between. The Maroon & Gold led 79-69 with 11:34 remaining. Iona continued to build its lead, and the 19-point margin at the end of the game was its largest of the contest. After the 69-69 tie, the Gaels outscored Canisius 36-17. The Griffs shot just 4-for-16 during the stretch with seven of its 16 turnovers in the final 13+ minutes.

Iona outshot Canisius 56.3% – 52.5% for the game with the help of a 20-for-32 (62.5%) effort in the second half. The home team out rebounded its opponents 35-31 and posted 25 assists to just a season-low six turnovers. It was the Gaels’ – the nation’s leading assist team – 13th 20+ assist effort of the year.

Four Canisius players scored double-digits led by Belardo with 27 and Hymes with 23. The duo converted  all 10 of the Griffs long distance connections. Josiah Heath had 12 points and eight boards while Harold Washington added 13 points and three assists.

The Gaels hit the road for two games facing Manhattan on Saturday (Feb. 4) and Loyola next Friday (Feb. 10). The squad then finishes the regular season with four of its last five games at the Hynes Center.

The Hawks (14-7, 4-3) had four players reach double-figures in the high-scoring affair, led by Samira Van Grinsven and Ashley Prim with 13 points apiece.

BJ Williams dished a game-high nine assists for the Owls to reach 100 assists for the season- the most in her Temple career with seven regular-season games remaining. McCarthy added a game-high 10 rebounds to her 20 points to notch her second-straight double-double and fifth of the year. She also led all players with three steals.

Peddy hit 10-of-10 at the line on her way to her second-highest scoring performance of the season. Free throws essentially won the game for Temple as the Owls hit 21-of-25 at the line including 18-of-20 in the second half. Temple also out-rebounded the Hawks 40-29, leading to a 14-4 advantage in second-chance points.

Both teams shot the ball well early but it was Temple that really picked it up after trailing 8-7 three minutes into the game. The Owls used a 13-2 run to take an 11-point, 21-10 lead at 12:13. McCarthy scored seven points in the run, which was capped by Macaulay’s third bucket of the game.

The Hawks rallied back to within six with a 7-2 run, but back-to-back layups put the Owls back ahead by double digits with 8:25 left in the first. The run eventually extended to 8-0, giving Temple its largest lead of the first half with 6:30 remaining, 31-17.

The rest of the half was all Hawks as Saint Joseph’s closed out on a 15-4 run to trail by just three, 35-32 at the break.

Despite making just one of its last seven field-goal attempts, Temple finished the half shooting nearly 54 percent after its strong performance most of the way. The Hawks made five of their final six attempts in the half to improve their percentage to almost 45 percent.

Peddy opened the second-half scoring with her second trey of the game for a six-point, 38-32 cushion, but it vanished quickly as Saint Joseph’s scored on consecutive possessions to narrow the margin to two for the first time since the opening three minutes of the game.

The game of runs continued as the Owls went back ahead by seven only to see the Hawks quickly narrow the margin back to three.

Temple led by just four, 51-47 before pulling away yet again to take another 11-point lead just after the midway point of the second half. The Hawks were never out of striking distance and pulled to within seven four times under the five-minute mark, including for a final time with 52 seconds remaining.

The Owls were able to hold them off at the free-throw line as they sank 11 of their final 12 attempts including 5-of-6 in the final minute.

The Owls return home for their next game, a 2:00 p.m. contest against Fordham on Saturday, Feb. 4 in McGonigle Hall.