By AARON BRACY
January 24, 2025
With opportunities for big road victories over conference elites, neither Saint Joseph’s nor Villanova could come up with victories on Friday night.
The Hawks lost at Dayton 77-72 to fall to 12-8 overall and 3-4 in the Atlantic 10.
The Wildcats fell to No. 10-ranked Marquette 87-74 to drop to 12-9 overall and 5-5 in the Big East.
I was at the Wells Fargo Center covering the 76ers-Cavaliers game for the Associated Press but had the St. Joe’s-Dayton game on my laptop. I followed the Villanova-Marquette contest on the box score.
Below is a recap of both.
–Dayton 77, St. Joe’s 72: The Hawks got off to a really slow start and never led in this one. St. Joe’s missed 14 of 17 three-point tries in the opening 20 minutes to dig a 39-26 hole.
The Hawks battled back in the second half, getting as close as within three points in the final seconds, but this game never really felt like it would be the visitors’ to take.
St. Joe’s finished 9 of 33 (27.3 percent) from three-point range.
Erik Reynolds II led St. Joe’s with 21 points but needed 19 field-goal attempts to get there, going 8 of 19 overall and 4 of 13 from long range. Xzayvier Brown had 18 points, and Rasheer Fleming chipped in with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Up next for St. Joe’s is a home game against Duquesne on Wednesday night.
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–Marquette 87, Villanova 74: The Golden Eagles took control early, and the contest never really seemed to be in doubt. Wooga Poplar did not start for Villanova, one game after getting ejected for throwing a punch in the Wildcats’ home loss to Georgetown on Monday. Poplar finished with eight points in 27 minutes.
Tyler Perkins started in place of Poplar and had seven points in 30 minutes. Perkins finally snapped a long three-point skid, ending an 0 for 28 drought from long range. He finished 1 of 5 from the arc.
Jordan Longino had 27 points and seven assists to pace the Wildcats. Eric Dixon added 18 points, and Jhamir Brickus had 12 points.
Villanova has seven days off before hosting Creighton on Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages. His book on the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team is expected to be published on March 1, 2025. Read a summary and preorder it by clicking HERE. Contact him at aaron@big5hoops.com.