After waiting what feels like months, the Saint Joseph’s Hawks finally had a win with minimal frills. At least, minimal compared to what their average A10 experience has been this season.
Saint Joe’s ran up the score for a 82-69 win against the Fordham Rams. This brought the Hawks back to a .500 record in the conference season, as well as an 18-11 overall record. This was a bounce back win, and puts Saint Joe’s on track to finish at .500, or even above, with two games left in the season. In addition, the Hawks sealed up a .500 record for the overall season, something that hasn’t happened in 5+ years. Note, this was determined earlier in February, but figured it was worth mentioning.
Kacper Klaczek Appreciation Hour
Usually, I recognize the top scorer from the team in this segment. It’s an accolade the normally goes to Erik Reynolds II, Lynn Greer III, or recently, Xzayvier Brown. But today, the honor has to go to Kacper Klaczek, who finished the game 7-11 from the field with 16 points. He also finished with six rebounds and six assists.
Let’s be honest, it has not been an easier year for the junior forward. He has struggled to put in solid performances, and at some points, jeopardize his spot in the rotation. Because of that, he gets all the praise today. He showed up, played his role, made smart decisions, and had his finger print on a lot of key moments to this game. Mr. Kacper, block out what others say about you. Remember this performance and replicate it. Saint Joe’s needs you, and if you play like this, the team will only find more success.
I Still Think Saint Joe’s can be top A10 Team
To be honest, I haven’t written too much about this team. In previous year’s I would have a recap once a week with some opinion pieces mixed in. After some signature non-conference wins, and not some not so signature A10 losses, I realized that not much was changing about this team over the last eight weeks. As I said on my Saint Joe’s podcast, Hawk Talk, this team was showing us the same thing over and over. The games fell into three categories: blow out loss, close loss with a second half meltdown, and close win. Talking about this every week is a drag, writing about it would have driven me crazy.
But, that all changed today. Finally, I thought we had a blowout win on our hands after Saint Joe’s went up twenty points in the half. I thought “this is it, finally a new category, a new story to reflect upon”. Minus some bumps in the second half, with Fordham bringing the lead down to nine points, the Hawks did pull off a convincing win. It was never going to be a total walk in the park, even though that would have been nice. Yet, even with the few scary minutes, the Hawks played above their competition for the first time in a while.
It is obvious to say, but they need to do this for their final two games, which are not going to be ‘a walk in the park’. Richmond and Davidson are not easy teams to beat, so coming out, playing our style, and keeping the foot on the pedal is important. A10 play went by fast, and soon the tournament will be here. If this team wants to make waves, they have to come in with momentum like they did last year. The next two games give Saint Joe’s that opportunity.
I still think this is a top 4 team in the A10, they just have to stop playing down to their competition. Easier said than done I guess…
