Saint Joseph’s Miraculous Season Ends in NIT Quarterfinals

Saint Joseph’s shouldn’t have made it to the final week of March to begin with.

The Hawks went through a coaching change on the eve of fall practices when former head man Billy Lange departed for the New York Knicks in early September. Their next man up was readily available, as the Hawks added former Penn head coach Steve Donahue to their staff after the Quakers let him go in March, but Saint Joseph’s looked like a team in flux for the first two months of the regular season, the 63-year-old Donahue looking like a man near the end of his four decade coaching career.

The Hawks parted ways with lead scorer Deuce Jones II on the eve of conference play and dropped their first Atlantic-10 matchups… then promptly went 13-3 the rest of the way, making a run to the A-10 semifinals and earning Donahue conference coach of the year honors.

Comeback Kids

Saint Joseph’s continued to defy the odds upon earning a bid to the National Invitation Tournament, entering the field unseeded but going on the road to knock off both Colorado State and Cal on their home courts.

After leading the Rams 56-45 with seven minutes to play, the Hawks allowed a 14-3 run, Colorado State tying the game with less than 90 seconds to play. They didn’t blink, true freshman Austin Williford nailing a go-ahead three on the ensuing possession before Derek Simpson helped ice the game with a steal and two made free throws, staving off further drama with another trip to the charity stripe in the final ten seconds.

Saint Joseph’s win over Cal was even more miraculous, as they faced a 19 point deficit with 13:25 to play in the second half. From there, they closed the game out on a 34-14 run, Jaiden Glover-Toscano leading the way with 24 points. Simpson put the Hawks in front 76-75 with 1:50 remaining, a score that held after a nail-biting defensive sequence that included blocks from Dasear Haskins and Glover-Toscano, the latter sealing the game at the buzzer.

The Hawks’ magic ran out in their third trip out west, however, as they fell 84-69 at New Mexico on Tuesday, March 24. They weathered an early storm behind threes from Haskins and Simpson; the duo gave the Hawks a halftime lead, powering a 14-4 run with another barrage of triples.

New Mexico began the second half on a 10-2 run that put them in the drivers seat. While Saint Joseph’s managed timely threes to keep the Lobos on their toes, their lead grew as high as 15 points and the Hawks’ magic ran out.