Demery scores 18 to lead Saint Joseph’s over La Salle
PHILADELPHIA » James Demery scored 18 points and led five players in double-figures as Saint Joseph’s beat La Salle 78-70 on Saturday in a regular-season finale.
Shavar Newkirk added 16 points for the Hawks (15-15, 10-8 Atlantic 10 Conference), Anthony Longpré had 11 points and Chris Clover and Nick Robinson had 10 apiece, with Robinson grabbing eight rebounds.
The Hawks closed out the regular season on a three-game streak and are currently fourth in the conference standings.
Saint Joseph’s led 39-33 at halftime but La Salle kept pace early in the second half, taking a 48-47 lead with 12:48 to play. The Hawks inched ahead again on back-to-back 3-pointers by Newkirk and Demery and Clover hit a layup, James Demery a dunk and Pierfrancesco Oliva a 3-pointer as part of an 11-6 run late that pushed it to 77-67 with 39 seconds to go.
Pookie Powell scored 26 points with nine rebounds and six assists to lead the Explorers (13-18, 7-10). PENN 99, BROWN 93 » Ryan Betley scored a career-high 30 points with six 3-pointers and grabbed eight rebounds and Pennsylvania never trailed in beating Brown to win a share of the Ivy League title, its first since the 2006-07 season, in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Caleb Wood scored 18 points, Darnell Foreman had 16, AJ Brodeur added 11, and Max Rothschild scored nine points with 10 rebounds for the Quakers (22-8, 12-2), who shared the title with Harvard (17-12, 12-2). Harvard beat Columbia, 93-74, in its final game.
The Quakers hit 11 of 18 3-pointers (61.1 percent) and shot 56.1 percent from the field to sweep the season series.
After leading 47-31 at halftime, Antonio Woods’ layup put Penn up 58-40 and the Quakers led by 22 on Jackson Donahue’s 3 with 11:14 to go. Tamenang Choh scored 11 straight for Brown and the Bears closed to 97-93 on Jason Massey’s 3 with two seconds left before Betley iced it with two free throws.
Choh and Brandon Anderson scored 23 apiece and Desmond Cambridge added 16 for Brown (11-16, 4-10), which has lost six straight. It was a season high for Choh, a freshman. DREXEL 70, JAMES MADISON 62 » Tramaine Isabell scored 12 of his 24 points in the last four minutes to help No. 8 seed Drexel beat ninth-seeded James Madison in the first round of the Colonial Tournament.
Drexel (13-19), which had lost six of its last seven conference tournament games before beating the Dukes, will move on to face topseeded Charleston (23-7) in a Sunday quarterfinal.
James Madison had a 55-54 lead with 4:20 to play. The Dragons closed on a 16-7 run, including an 8-0 stretch from Isabell. Ramone Snowden’s 3-pointer pulled the Dukes to 6460 before Isabell hit four straight free throws to make it 68-60 with 31 seconds left.
Sammy Mojica added 11 points and Austin Williams had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Drexel.
Matt Lewis made three 3-pointers and finished with 15 points on 3-of-15 shooting for James Madison (10-22). Athletic Association