SAN DIEGO (AP) – St. Joseph's, a little school forever in the
shadow of Philadelphia's big-time basketball programs, wasn't going
to get pushed around by Georgia Tech.
Even before their first-round NCAA West Regional tournament game
began.
|  | | Frank Wilkins of St. Joseph's, left, drives to the hoop just ahead of Alvin Jones. |
During warmups, players from each team infringed on the other's
side of the court at Cox Arena and minor pushing broke out. Words
were exchanged as curious onlookers wondered what was next.
Turns out, a St. Joe's victory.
Marvin O'Connor scored 13 of his 21 points in the second half
when the Hawks blew most of an 18-point lead before recovering to
beat Tech 66-62 on Thursday.
St. Joe's, the second-smallest school in the 65-team tournament
with 3,450 students on its Jesuit campus, will play top-seeded
Stanford in the second round. The Cardinal beat North Carolina
Greensboro 89-60.
"We heard a lot of ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference). We took
that personally," O'Connor said. "I guess they think the Atlantic
10 doesn't exist. I think they overlooked us. They probably don't
know where St. Joe's is located."
Tech forward Jon Babul said, "It wasn't really a big deal."
St. Joe's, the second-smallest school in the 65-team tournament
with 3,450 students on its Jesuit campus, saw its lead dwindle to
three points twice in the final 1:43.
But the Yellow Jackets (17-13) came up short on two easy scoring
chances. Tony Akins saw his shot spin out of the basket and Alvin
Jones, the first Tech center to be chosen all-ACC, missed an
alley-oop dunk.
The Hawks (26-6) missed the front end of free-throw attempts by
Damian Reid and Jameer Nelson before Nelson hit two foul shots to
keep St. Joe's ahead 65-60 with 29.7 seconds left.
"I think the guys were squeezing the ball to see if there was
air in it," Hawks coach Phil Martelli said. "We started to play
not to lose instead of playing to win."
Nelson added 13 points for St. Joe's, which led by 16 points in
the first half. The Hawks tied the school record for victories in a
season.
Akins led Tech with 16 points, including 7-of-7 free throws, and
Darryl LaBarrie added 15 points. Jones finished with eight points
and 10 rebounds after being held scoreless in the first half.
"I wasn't tired or frustrated, but I was a touch slow myself,"
Jones said. "Even before I started the game, I wasn't mentally
focused, not like I was in the ACC tournament."
Both teams were plagued by sloppiness in a game that saw Tech
commit 17 turnovers to St. Joe's 14 and neither team shot better
than 40 percent.
"I wasn't real pleased with our effort in the first half, but
we came back well in the second half," first-year Tech coach Paul
Hewitt said. "That gave us a chance. We just couldn't get a shot
to fall."
St. Joe's, the ninth seed, is back in the NCAAs for the first
time since reaching the final 16 in 1997.
"For us to win and shoot 29 percent in the second half is very
significant," Martelli said. "That was about a group of kids who
didn't want their jerseys taken away."
Tech made the tournament for the first time since its final 16
appearance in 1996. The Yellow Jackets, whose eighth seed equals
their lowest ever, tied for fifth in the ACC, then upset Virginia
in the conference tourney before losing to North Carolina in the
semifinals.
A 3-pointer by O'Connor gave St. Joe's its largest lead, 46-28,
early in the second half before the Yellow Jackets awoke.
Tech scored 15 of the next 17 points to get to 48-43 with 11:47
remaining. Jones had his first field goal of the game in the spurt
and scored six straight points.
Halston Lane missed a dunk, but Tech controlled the rebound and
Robert Brooks scored in the lane as the Yellow Jackets trailed
50-47.
O'Connor hit consecutive 3-pointers and scored on a dunk to push
St. Joe's lead to 58-49 with 8:18 remaining.
Tied at eight, St. Joe's used an 18-2 run to take a 26-10 lead
with 5:43 remaining. The Yellow Jackets went just under seven
minutes without a field goal in that stretch. Bill Phillips had six
points for the Hawks, including a backdoor basket that ended the
run.
Georgia Tech got within eight on consecutive 3-pointers by Akins
and Marvin Lewis, but Tech was outscored 13-4 over the final 3:38
to trail 41-24 at the break.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
St Josephs (Penn.) Clubhouse
Georgia Tech Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Marvin O'Connor feels like his St. Joseph's team was underestimated.
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Paul Hewitt feels Marvin O'Connor performed like a big-time player.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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