A slow start and the Peyton Aldridge buzzsaw were too much to overcome for St. Joe's, which fell to Davidson, 75-60, Tuesday night at Hagan Arena.
Aldridge, the Wildcats' junior forward, gave the Hawks fits both down in the post and beyond the arc. The 6-foot-8, 225-pounder finished three points shy of his career high with 31, shooting 11 of 18 from the floor and 7 for 7 at the foul line. He also had 13 rebounds.
He was a catalyst in a game-opening 17-8 spurt that helped Davidson establish control. Aldridge started hot and never cooled as he made every shot that left his hand in the first half, scoring 20 points to nearly eclipse his season average of 21.2 per game. He was 7 for 7 from the field, 2 for 2 from three and 4 of 4 from the free throw line.
St. Joe's, meanwhile, spent the first 1:57 of the game trying to capture its first bucket. The inability to answer Davidson’s offensive attack snowballed quickly and by the four-minute mark in the first, the Hawks found themselves down by 17 points. The post presences of Aldridge and Andrew McAuliffe stopped numerous attempts at St. Joe's attacks at driving inside.
Davidson’s height down low and ability to hit three-pointers, combined with a sluggish start from St. Joe's, were a recipe for the Hawks' defeat. In the second half, the Hawks never drew closer than eight points and trailed by 10-plus for the majority of the final frame.
The Hawks never led in the game, which was tied for a grand total of 12 seconds.
What it means
The Hawks fell to 10-11 and 3-6 in the Atlantic 10. Davidson improved to 12-8 and 5-4.
Inside the box score
• Lamarr Kimble scored 18 points and had four assists.
• James Demery scored just four points on 2 of 10 shooting in 18 minutes (more on that here).
• St. Joe's finished 21 of 61 (34.4 percent) from the field.
What's next
St. Joe's will play Fordham at Hagan Arena at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
Davidson will return home to face off against Rhode Island on Friday at 7 p.m.