Falcons Overcome Late Deficit With 23-9 Surge To Finish Game
WEST ORANGE, NJ–After reaching the Tournament of Champions the past two seasons including an appearance in the Championship Game last year, and having four Division I players in the starting lineup, St. Joseph’s now has a target on its back. Not only did it have to fight off a fierce challenge from second ranked East Brunswick on opening night, but they got a tough battle from Group I school, Shore Regional at the Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic on Sunday night at West Orange High School.
With the Blue Devils knocking down 15 three pointers including 9 from team MVP, Dan Pillari, who finished with a game high 40 points, St. Joe’s got all it could handle in the finale of the 2013 Hoop Group Tip-Off Classic. Trailing 59-55 with about five minutes remaining, the Falcons finished the game with a decisive flourish by scoring 23 of the last 32 points for a riveting 78-68 victory. Kentucky bound big man, Karl Towns earned team MVP honors with 20 points that led a balanced attack that consisted of five players scoring in double figures. Marques Townes and sophomore Breein Tyree chipped in with 17 each while Vanderbilt bound Wade Baldwin added 11 points and Canisius bound Raven Owen contributed with 10 points including a three that tied the game at 60-60 with 3:55 left.
Besides Pillari, Dan Largey was the only other Blue Devils player to score in double figures with 16 points including four threes. Shore only had four players score in the game as football standout, Kevin Bloodgood added 8 points and Mike Cosentino chipped in with 4 to round out the Shore Conference representative’s scoring. St. Joe’s had 7 players that broke into the scoring column as Mike Cintron and Marcus Ashamole each added two points. En route to the victory, the Falcons had to overcome not only the highly efficient offense of Pillari and Shore, but also foul problems and their emotions. Both Karl Towns and Wade Baldwin drew their fourth fouls in the fourth quarter while Marques Townes drew his third. St. Joseph’s was also hit with two technical fouls that helped turn what was a 53-48 lead with 4.6 seconds left in the third into a 56-53 deficit following a Pillari layup with 7:36 remaining in the game. Pillari scored all eight points during the run as he sank six foul shots as well.
About a minute and a half later, and following a St. Joe’s score, Pillari sank a trey to give the Blue Devils a four point lead as Joes called for time. Following the stoppage, the Falcons showed the same urgency that they had in the final 51 seconds of the opening night contest against EB as Townes slashed in for a driving layup to close the gap to two, and then after a free throw by Shore, Owen connected on a triple from the left wing to tie the score with under four minutes to play. The Falcons then went inside to Towns, who proved to be too much for the much smaller Shore Regional defenders. The Piscataway native scored the next 9 points including a short jumper from the left low block at the 2:36 mark, and then a traditional three point play with 2:20 left that made the score 65-60. Following another three by Pillari that closed the gap to two at 65-63, Towns struck again with a bucket in the paint, and a pair of free throws for a 69-63 lead with about a minute and a half left.
The Falcons got another free throw from Marques Townes at the 1:06 mark for a 70-63 lead, but then Shore scored 5 of the next 7 points including another trey by Pillari to pull within four at 72-68 with 45 seconds left. However, Shore couldn’t get any closer as the Falcons closed the game out with a two handed breakaway jam by Baldwin, two free throws by Owen with 19.2 left, and a pair of foul shots by Townes with 8.7 seconds left for the ten point, 78-68 victory. Shore was a scorching 15 of 27 from beyond the arc for 56 percent, and outscored the Falcons by a margin of 45-15 in points scored from long distance. The Falcons didn’t have a three until Baldwin connected on a trey just before the first half ended to give Joes a 34-33 halftime lead. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils almost had all of its first half scoring on threes with 10 treys. St. Joseph’s was able to counter that with a 24-6 edge in two point field goals, and a 15-11 edge in points scored at the charity stripe. Shore outscored St. Joe’s in the first and third quarters while the Falcons outscored the Blue Devils in the second and fourth quarters.
Shore Regional jumped out to a 21-14 lead as the Blue Devils scored all of its points on threes. St. Joe’s trailed 31-20 at one point in the first half before going on a 20-2 tear that spanned the last half of the second quarter, and the early portion of the third for a 40-33 lead. The Falcons actually scored 11 of the final 13 points of the first half to take a one point lead in the intermission. After going up by seven, the Falcons began having foul problems as Towns picked up his third foul at the 3:12 mark of the third, and then Shore responded with a 26-15 surge over the next six plus minutes to take a four point lead. With the win, St. Joseph’s improves to 2-0 overall on the season while Shore Regional falls to 0-1. The Falcons will next compete in the Shooting Touch Shootout holiday showcase in Boston against Archbishop Wood of Warminster, Pennsylvania on December 27th at 7:15 PM.