February 22, 2025 –
In the city of Philadelphia you can go to college basketball games all within a short driving distance. Today, I started out going to Hawk Hill for a men’s basketball game between the Saint Joseph’s Hawks and the Richmond Spiders at a sold out Hagan Arena.
Saint Joseph’s 78 Richmond 62
The Hawks can be one of the most entertaining teams in the city, especially when they play together and execute on both ends of the floor. In this game they did. St. Joe’s is on the winning side in 6 of their last nine games, and have elevated into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Atlantic 10. The top four seeds get a bye into the conference tournament quarterfinals.
And one of the best players in the city is Hawks guard Erik Reynolds II. He is a player that Coach Billy Lange calls transformational. Reynolds II scored 25 points on 9 of 16 shooting, 7 of 12 from beyond the arc to set a career-high for made three point field goals in a single game. He now has 2,067 career total points, just 28 points away from being the program leading scorer. That is held presently by Jameer Nelson. Reynolds II did it today within the flow of the offense in letting the game come to him.
“The way our movement was, we just kept them on their heels,” said Reynolds II. “The more we kept pushing the pace, it was easier to find.”
Forward Rasheer Fleming added 23 points and made 4 of his 8 three-point attempts to tie his career-high.
The Hawks drained 15 of 33 three pointers, 9 of 17 in the first half. It is the third time this season they have made 15 or more 3 point field goals. The team assisted 20 times on 28 baskets. Xavier Brown had 7 of the assists and he contributed 15 points.
Time to get into the car and get to the Palestra. On the way passing the DAC where Drexel downed the College of Charleston 64 – 55. The game concluded as I drove through the neighborhood.
Penn 68 Cornell 63
The University of Pennsylvania hosted a women’s / men’s doubleheader.
In the women’s game Penn had their hands full with the Big Red of Cornell. The Quakers trailed in the fourth quarter. Stina Almqvist went on a scoring run of 8 consecutive Penn points over nearly three and a half minutes resulting in a 55 – 51 lead for the Red and Blue. They put the game away behind a three-point shot by Katie Collins and a Simone Sawyer layup. Cornell also went cold from the floor not converting a field goal from the five and a half minute mark of the fourth quarter until there was just under a minute to play.
Almqvist led all scorers with 25 points. She converted 12 of 14 free throws. Mataya Gayle scored 18 points and handed out 5 assists. Summer Parker-Hall headed Cornell with 17 points.
Penn did not shoot above 33% over the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter the Red and Blue had 7 of 9 shots fall.
The Quakers own the fourth place spot in the Ivy League, the final berth in Ivy Madness. There is still more basketball to be played and Brown is only a game behind. But the Red and Blue are in a spot they have been striving for.
“We know we need to win basketball games to make this playoff,” said Penn Coach Mike McLaughlin. “This is vital for us if we’re going to earn another game into this season. That’s the way we looked at it. And they responded.”
Sticking around for the men’s game, it was the most exciting contest of the day and went into overtime.
Harvard 79 Penn 78
The loss ended the hopes or the Quakers to qualify for Ivy Madness in all probability. The hurt came in how the team suffered the loss on Senior Day.
Harvard had the better of it in the first half leading 40 – 28 at halftime. Penn spent the second half chipping away at the deficit. Finally with just under four and a half minutes in regulation the Red and Blue took the lead at 61 – 58 on a three pointer by Sam Brown. Penn stretched that advantage to as many as five points. Under a half minute showed on the clock and Penn was up three. The Crimson tried to get the tying basket, but the Red and Blue strategically fouled. Five ticks were on the clock when Brown hit both ends of a one-and-one. Harvard tried a long pass that Brown got his hands on near the Harvard foul line. In the ensuing scramble Crimson guard Evan Nelson got the ball and hit a three that sent the game into overtime.
The defense was set, but the ball did not bounce Penn’s way.
“We fouled prior to that. We were going to foul there,” said Penn Coach Steve Donahue. “Honestly, he (the Harvard inbound passer) did us a favor and threw the ball in the air. I thought Sam (Brown) had a great shot at it and just fumbled it, bounced the ball. We were going to foul, but at that point you can’t foul because he’s lining up a three.”
In overtime each team was always within a possession of one another. With 35.8 ticks on the clock Penn center Nick Spinoso sank the second of two free throws for a one point lead. Robert Hinson answered for Harvard by making two free throws. Neither team could score again.
Hinton scored a team-high 22 points and 8 rebounds. He was one of five Crimson players who scored in double-figures.
Spinoso, a senior, contributed 24 points and 8 rebounds. Brown had 19 points. Michael Zanoni added 12 points and Ethan Roberts had 11.
Penn has three more games to play in this regular season with the all three on the road at Columbia, Cornell, and Princeton.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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