St. Joe’s takes down Dayton in A-10 tournament quarterfinals, 73-68 in OT

WASHINGTON — This St. Joe’s men’s basketball season swung from promise to frustration, then back to promise.

On Friday, it felt like the pendulum swung so many times it might break.

The Hawks beat Dayton, 73-68 in overtime, in the Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals after holding a 56-48 lead with 3 minutes, 35 seconds to play. The score was tied 60-60 at the end of regulation.

Erik Reynolds II had a team-high 21 points, Xzayvier Brown had 20, and Justice Ajogbor was a huge presence defensively with seven blocks.

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Though Hawks fans were outnumbered by Flyers fans who traveled farther, the team in the darker shade of red leaped out of the gates. St. Joe’s led 33-24 at the half, and it had been as much as 31-16 with just under four minutes left in the period.

The biggest reason wasn’t Reynolds 10 points, even though that obviously helped — especially after his off shooting night vs. La Salle. It was Ajogbor’s six blocks in the frame.

“I’m not surprised at what he does, because he always stands up to the moment when the moments get high,” Reynolds said of Ajogbor. “He always steps up when we need him the most.”

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Dayton chipped away at the lead, and tied it at 46-46 on Amael L’Etang’s three-pointer with 8 minutes, 24 seconds remaining. St. Joe’s didn’t score a point for over five minutes of play — including Finkley missing two free throws after drawing a foul off a steal and dunk attempt.

Reynolds finally ended the drought with a layup with 8:02 left, and the Hawks controlled most of the next five minutes. But then the Flyers broke out a 10-0 run, including a steal and a Reynolds travel on back-to-back St. Joe’s possessions, to go up 58-56 with 1:47 to go.

It was a real scrap now, and Finkley missed a big opportunity by clanking the front end of a one-and-one. Then he was whistled for his fourth foul at the other end.

Malachi Smith then put Dayton up 60-56 with a layup with 18 seconds to go, and that felt like a decisive basket. It ended up not, because Brown drew two fouls and hit all four free throws to tie the score.

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Finkley fouled out with 2:36 to go in the extra session, and St. Joe’s leading 64-60. That felt ominous, but the rest of the Hawks stepped up defensively until Brown and Dayton’s Nate Santos traded three-pointers in the final minute.

From there, it came down to free throws. Reynolds and Brown combined to hit five of six and put the game away.

“To see Erik’s [Reynolds] poise,” St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange said, “to stick through all the manhandling that he goes through and be able to knock free throws down, go back and get the basketball — just really, really inspired by their play tonight.”

St. Joe’s will play No. 2 George Mason in Saturday’s semifinals (3:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network). No. 1 Virginia Commonwealth and No. 4 Loyola-Chicago will meet in the other semifinal (1 p.m., CBSSN), with the Hawks the only team from outside the top four to make it this far.

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It’s a fast turnaround after a late finish. How will Lange handle it?

“I’ll have probably five or six slices of pizza that I’ll try to run off on the treadmill tomorrow morning, and it won’t work,” Lange said. “We’ll look through our review notes of our last game against Mason. We’ll get these guys recovered and rested, we’ll put a schedule together that maximizes sleep and recovery.”

Beyond that, he said he’ll keep it simple, with a message similar he gave his players at the start of overtime.

“Let’s just continue to compete — that’s it,” Lange said. “It’s not about ego, or what we could have done earlier. It’s just, like, we’ve got five minutes, let’s play St. Joe’s basketball. And they did it.”

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