St. Joe's and Princeton tip off at Hagan on Sunday. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
December 10, 2023
Big5Hoops.com
Deep breath. In through the nose. Count to three. Out through the mouth. Slowly.
Now repeat. OK, one more time.
Ahh. I can breathe now.
For 40 minutes on Sunday at Hagan Arena, though, it wasn’t easy to get much oxygen to my lungs.
Because Saint Joseph’s and Princeton’s offenses were breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking.
Like 10 ballers on a playground somewhere, the Hawks and Tigers went at each other with everything they had. Defense was an afterthought.
It was get the ball up the court. Launch it. Then, launch it again.
No time to breathe. Can’t. The pace is too frenetic. The offenses too great.
Quick breaths will have to do.
Now, you can exhale. Ahh. Again. Ahh.
We are OK now.
The teams combined for 64 3-pointers. Ultimately, St. Joe’s had just a little more offense in the tank than the Tigers, pulling out a statement 74-70 victory. The win continues the momentum for the Hawks (8-2), who dealt Princeton (9-1) its first loss after nine straight victories to start the season.
How did they do it? Shoot. Shoot. And shoot some more.
“I liked our offense tonight,” St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange said. “I thought we had great pace.”
Erik Reynolds II led St. Joe’s with 21 points, and Lynn Greer III scored 18 for St. Joe’s. The Hawks were 7 of 26 from 3-point range but, importantly, made 20 of 33 two-pointers.
St. Joe’s got up by as many as seven points after halftime, following back to back three-point plays by Greer and Xzayvier Brown with just under 10 minutes left. But it was impossible to get much distance from the Tigers, whose shooting range is, well, the entire gym.
Xaivian Lee was marvelous until missing a pair of key free throws late that helped turn the game the Hawks’ way. The Princeton guard scored 20 points, making 4 of 10 3-pointers. Ten 3-point attempts! And they weren’t even the most on the Tigers. Blake Peters tried 11 from long range, draining three.
All totaled, the Tigers launched 38 3-pointers, which was more than double their two-point tries (17).
It was get the ball up the court. Launch it. Then, launch it again.
I mean, how can you breathe? There’s no time for that.
“Terrifying, when we were on defense,” Lange said about Princeton’s offense. “Every single time they raise up, you just think it’s going in. I don’t know how we guard them better than we did.”
The Hawks’ best defense was their offense.
“They were on the attack,” Tigers coach Mitch Henderson said. “We were on our heels. The whole game they were on the attack.”
Attack. Launch. Attack. Launch. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Go back and read that quickly. How was your breathing? Now, do that for, oh, 40 minutes. Yeah, are you feeling me? Wasn’t exactly Yoga class at Hagan.
You couldn’t breathe. But, damn, it was life-giving.
Exciting. Electric. Thrilling. Got another good adjective?
“It was a really fun game,” Greer said.
Yeah, fun, too.
Now, let me go and catch my breath.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.