St. Joe’s could make a run in the A-10 tournament. Its performance against Fordham showed why.

NEW YORK — Maybe some other time, Billy Lange would have raised his voice loud enough to test the sound absorption of the stone walls that house the oldest gym in Division I basketball.

Fordham scored 47 points in the opening half Saturday afternoon at the Rose Hill Gymnasium, which opened in 1925, two years ahead of the Palestra. It was senior day, there was a nice crowd, and Lange had spent parts of Friday and Saturday telling his St. Joseph’s men’s basketball team that there would be a little more energy in the building that flowed into the Atlantic 10′s last-place basketball team.

The Hawks’ defense probably was as bad as it could be.

“I just talked to them,” Lange said. “We’re past the point of screaming and yelling. I thought early in the conference season I had to try to externalize more and get these guys amped up. It worked for like 1½ games. The group is just a very even-keeled group, and so you know what I’m doing? I’m just even keeling with them because it’s the best way to reach them. I’m just speaking truths to them and facts to them.”

The truths and facts of the first 20 minutes were simple to relay. The Hawks missed assignments, gave up offensive rebounds, and allowed far too many easy baskets.

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It took just over five minutes in the second half for the Hawks to flip the game with a 13-3 run that turned a two-point halftime deficit into an eight-point lead. Fordham never got closer than five, and the Rams mustered just 29 second-half points against a St. Joe’s team that won its sixth game in its last seven contests, 90-76.

Perhaps more important for St. Joe’s was how the game changed. How often under Lange has the Hawks’ center flipped a game? There was Justice Ajogbor, the transfer from Harvard, with a two-handed dunk over a Fordham defender to open the scoring in the second half. After a defensive stop, Ajogbor rolled to the rim, received a pass from Xzayvier Brown, and laid the ball in for two more. Another defensive stop was followed by a perfectly executed screen from Ajogbor. Fordham switched off the pick, and Ajogbor posted a smaller defender, pulled in another pass from Brown, and powered his way to the rim for two more to finish off a personal 6-0 run.

Those were the only six points Ajogbor scored, but Fordham felt his presence defensively. Officially, Ajogbor had five blocks, but he got a piece of a dunk attempt from Fordham’s Josh Rivera and didn’t get credit for it.

“I just thought Justice settled us,” Lange said. “The blocked shots, the defensive rebounds, the two dunks, and then that power move was, like, development for him. He has not done that, literally, all year. Just got it, one dribble, and just jumped over. I almost didn’t want to take him out and the staff is like, ‘He can’t move.’”

St. Joe’s piled up 10 blocks on the day, including three from Rasheer Fleming. Fleming also scored 20 points and became the 60th player in St. Joe’s history to pass the 1,000-point plateau. Brown led all scorers with 27, a season-high, and had five assists and six rebounds. Anthony Finkley scored a career-high 15 points to go with seven rebounds. And then there’s Erik Reynolds II, whose pursuit of Jameer Nelson’s all-time scoring record at St. Joe’s will last, most likely, one more game. Reynolds finished with 17 points, three rebounds, three assists, and three steals. He will need two points Wednesday night at home vs. Rhode Island to tie Nelson and three to pass.

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The Hawks won their 10th A-10 game and stayed alive in their hunt for a double-bye in the conference tournament because they were balanced and because the defense woke up after halftime.

Brown, lately, been making it all work. He is shooting 55.7% from the field over the last five games, averaging 19.4 points and 4.6 assists.

“We’re flowing right now offensively, I feel like, and a big part of it is him,” Lange said. “He’s making easier decisions, simple decisions. He’s shooting the ball better.”

It always looks better for St. Joe’s — and any team, for that matter — when the ball is going in. But the Hawks who won Saturday were barely reliant on the three-point shot, which is a good sign on the first day of the month in which college basketball teams want to be playing their best and most versatile basketball.

St. Joe’s celebrated the Eagles and their Super Bowl championship Wednesday night vs. St. Bonaventure, and Brandon Graham brought the Lombardi Trophy to center court before the Hawks won, 75-64. Afterward, Lange was asked if he took anything from the Eagles’ run.

Within his answer — which he later admitted probably was longer than the questioner expected — was this: “When I watch Jalen Hurts’ response, physically, to winning the Super Bowl, I just saw a guy that’s content. He’s not about himself. He wasn’t promoting. He wasn’t saying, ‘I told you so.’ He was so peaceful and contented, and it really triggered me as I’m watching it. I’m like, ‘That’s these guys.’ To try to make them more external because it’s more who I am would be poor leadership on my part, and I’m a good leader, so I got to adjust.”

Maybe Saturday was the perfect place to put those words to practice. Vince Lombardi, of course, played football at Fordham, and his name is on the athletic complex next to the legendary Rose Hill gym.

It’s trophy season in Lange’s sport, and performances like Saturday, the “even keeling” from the coach to the players, make thoughts of an A-10 tournament run a little more realistic.