Last Six Minutes Proves Costly for the Hawks Who Lose 62 – 56 to the Wildcats
PHILADELPHIA, PA 1/3/2026 –
For the first 34 minutes the Saint Joseph’s Hawks were in control. But if you let a team hang around long enough, it can be dangerous. That is what happen to St. Joe’s in a 62 – 56 loss to Davidson. It was the first home game of the new year and the Atlantic 10 home opener on Hawk Hill.
The Pivotal Last Six Minutes
With just over six and a half minutes left Hawks freshman guard Austin Williford made a jump shot giving his team a 52 – 49 lead. It would be the last basket Saint Joseph’s would make until there was just 16 seconds to play. SJU would only add two free throws in that stretch. They missed 5 shots and turned the ball over twice. Even more importantly Davidson corralled 3 offensive rebounds leading to 5 points in that time frame.
“We’re inconsistent in that aspect of the game,” said Saint Joseph’s Coach Steve Donahue. “We’ve got to keep working on it, and I trust we’ll have better shooting days.”
“They out worked us and then they figured out who’s open. They are hard to contest when you give up offensive rebounds for threes. That stretch in the last five minutes was more of that.”
The critical sequence came with 32 seconds to play. Lower Merion grad and former Penn player Sam Brown would hit a huge three-pointer to give the Wildcats a 58 – 54 lead. On the ensuing possession Saint Joseph’s would turn the ball over on a backcourt violation, the dagger play.
“We have a play we run and did not communicate well with each other,” Donahue said.
Early Game Favored the Hawks
It was a good start for St. Joe’s who scored the first seven points. Davidson missed six of their first seven shots. The lead would stretch to double digits in the first half and to as many as 11 points in the second stanza. But the Hawks could not hold on as the Wildcats kept chipping away until finally taking a lead at the 4:54 mark at 53 – on a basket by Devin Brown. SJU took the lead back, 54 – 53 at 4:08 on a free throw by Khaafiq Myers. A basket by Parker Friedrichsen gave DC their permanent lead a half minute later.
“For 35 minutes I thought we were locked in, thought we competed, I thought we shared the ball,” said Donahue. “I would love to se the ball go in a little bit more. But every other aspect I thought was great. Sometimes missing shots affected down the other end. And I thought Davison took advantage of offensive rebounds.”
What the Numbers Say
Ajogbor led Saint Joseph’s in scoring with a team-high 11 points, his season-best. He added 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots giving him 115 career-blocks, one behind joining the top ten in St. Joe’s program history.
“I think the cool thing about blocking shots is a lot of the time it’s not necessarily blocking the shot of my guy, I’m blocking the guy my teammate is on,” said Ajogbor. “I didn’t know I was close to being in the top ten. For me I’m trying to help the team as best as I can.”
The Hawks made just 3 of 22 three-point field goals and shot 38% overall.
Sam Brown scored a game-high 13 points. Robert Blums added 11 and Friedrichsen contributed 10 points. Davidson shot 30% on the first half, then heated up making 51.7% in the second. The Wildcats were good on 7 of 21 from beyond the arc. DC won the offensive rebound battles 11 – 9.
Up Next
Saint Joseph’s (8 – 7, 0 – 2) hosts Duquesne on Wednesday before travelling to Richmond for a game next Sunday.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@phillycollegesports.com
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