Hawks

AS RECENTLY AS 4 years ago, Ryan Winton routinely racked up eight to 10 strikeouts per pitching outing. His total Monday vs. Cardinal O'Hara? Two. Don't wince. Don't expect to read he got shelled. St. Joseph's Prep is headed to archrival La Salle Tuesday for the quarterfinal round of the Catholic League baseball playoffs and Winton, though quite the understated kind of guy, is permitted to feel rather proud. In a first-round contest vs. Cardinal O'Hara, Winton, a 5-11, 150-pound senior righthander who's bound for St. Bonaventure on a partial scholarship, went the distance as the visiting Hawks toughed out a 4-3 victory.

Three Wyncote Academy players scored in double figures Tuesday, and the Lions defeated undermanned Hill Top Prep, 47-44, in a Tri-County League game at Hill Top. John Darden, Mark Drayton and Jon Jonassen each scored in double digits as the Lions won their third game in a row. The Hawks had only five players suited up. "I have to give a lot of credit to Hill Top," said Wyncote coach Steve Feiner. "They have had problems suiting players (due to injuries and academic ineligibility)

If St. Joseph's coach John Griffin had a choice, he would have sent his Hawks out to run with Memphis State's great athletes in the first round of the 40th ECAC Holiday Festival. The Madison Square Garden crowd would have been treated to a wonderful exhibition of '90s basketball. But Griffin had no options. He had to turn back the clock, slow the game down and hope for the best. Not surprisingly, Griffin got a glimpse of his immediate future and it wasn't pretty as Memphis State pulled away in the second half to win, 77-60.

Senior guard Bernard Blunt had 22 points, six rebounds and seven assists to lead six St. Joseph's players in double figures as the Hawks defeated Gmunden, 113-67, yesterday in the sixth game of their seven-game European exhibition tour. Sophomore forward Reggie Townsend had 21 points and eight rebounds and sophomore guard Alex Compton (seven points) added 10 assists. The Hawks (4-2) conclude their trip today when they face the Vienna Basket Flyers, Austria's top-ranked team.

The St. Joseph's Hawks missed lunch yesterday after their flight out of Philadelphia was canceled. Their coach, Phil Martelli, despises an interrupted schedule. He got flustered. "The Hawk will never fly," Martelli moaned. He was wrong. The Hawks arrived here only an hour late, and practiced last night at a local high school gym for tomorrow's NCAA West Regional opener against Pacific. The drama started at Philadelphia International Airport. Instead of taking off at 10:30 a.m., the Hawks had to wait an hour for the next flight, endure an attempted transfer to another airline (which didn't work out)

St. Joseph's played like a team that should have been seeded fourth in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Hawks got a No. 9 seed, apparently because the committee thought they did not play enough quality teams. Coach Phil Martelli is determined to change that perception. Thursday, he accepted a spot in the BCA Classic at California-Berkley to start next season (Nov. 16 and 17). The other confirmed teams are Princeton and California. Oklahoma State is more than likely the fourth team.

The already small St. Joseph's basketball team got positively tiny. That didn't matter last night against perimeter-minded Dinamo Novosibirsk, a touring Russian club team that fell to the Hawks, 77-62, at the Fieldhouse. But it might matter in the future. The Hawks played without 6-10 junior center Nemanja Petrovic, a projected starter whose slimmer figure and better post moves remained under wraps. He's suffered with a sore back for more than three weeks, and it finally forced him to the bench.

Rap Curry scored eight points during a 14-4 run early in the second half as St. Joseph's held off California-Santa Barbara, 70-56, last night. Carlin Warley (10 rebounds) scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half to lead the Hawks (9-8). Curry, who also had just four points at halftime, finished with 18 points and 7 assists as St. Joseph's registered back-to-back victories for the first time since the first two games of the season. Will Johnson added 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting.

The Atlanta Hawks still need some help to get the home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But with the way they've manhandled the Charlotte Hornets, it might not matter. The Hawks had their highest-scoring game of the season last night, rolling over the visiting Hornets, 121-104, to pull within a game of Charlotte for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Steve Smith scored 27 points, Alan Henderson had 25 and Mookie Blaylock 20 for the Hawks, who completed a sweep of the four-game season series against the team they'll meet in the best-of-five first round.

St. Joseph's guard Wayne Williams is suffering from an irritation in his left knee and will not need surgery, an examination showed yesterday. Williams, a 6-foot-3 senior, injured his knee in a collision last week with Penn center Bruce Lefkowitz and has missed two of the Hawks' last three games because of swelling. He tried to play Saturday against Penn State but left the game in pain after only 30 seconds, as the Hawks lost, 95-82. An arthrogram performed yesterday at a sports-medicine clinic in Ardmore revealed no serious damage to the knee.

AS RECENTLY AS 4 years ago, Ryan Winton routinely racked up eight to 10 strikeouts per pitching outing. His total Monday vs. Cardinal O'Hara? Two. Don't wince. Don't expect to read he got shelled. St. Joseph's Prep is headed to archrival La Salle Tuesday for the quarterfinal round of the Catholic League baseball playoffs and Winton, though quite the understated kind of guy, is permitted to feel rather proud. In a first-round contest vs. Cardinal O'Hara, Winton, a 5-11, 150-pound senior righthander who's bound for St. Bonaventure on a partial scholarship, went the distance as the visiting Hawks toughed out a 4-3 victory.

Kevin Kasilowski felt his baseball IQ going up. He also felt his spirits going down. "By the end, it was killing me," Kasilowski said of sitting out his junior baseball season at Haddon Township because of a shoulder injury. Kasilowski has made the most of his return for his senior season. He is leading the Hawks in hits and RBIs and playing sensational defense at shortstop, according to coach Doug Richardson. "It seems like he takes two or three hits away a game," Richardson said of Kasilowski's play in the middle of the infield.

Carmelo Anthony scored 41 points; Amar'e Stoudemire had 20 points and 10 rebounds in his return from a cut hand; and the Knicks snapped an NBA-record, 13-game postseason losing streak by beating the Miami Heat, 89-87, Sunday in Game 4 of their first-round series. "I think it's the first of many," said Stoudemire, his left arm back in a sling to keep his hand elevated. Anthony made a tie-breaking three-pointer with 54.5 seconds left as the Knicks overcame another serious injury to win a playoff game for the first time since beating Toronto on April 29, 2001, in Game 3 of a best-of-five series.

Rajon Rondo had a triple-double with 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 12 assists to lead the host Celtics to a 90-84 overtime victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night and give Boston a two-games-to-one lead in the first-round playoff series. Ray Allen returned after missing almost a month and scored 13 points in 38 minutes. Kevin Garnett had 20 points and 13 rebounds and Paul Pierce scored 21 points one game after leading Boston with 36 points and 14 rebounds. Joe Johnson scored 29 points and Jeff Teague had 23 for Atlanta.

  Paul Pierce battled through another tough shooting night to score 36 points and the Boston Celtics wiped out host Atlanta's 11-point lead in the second half even without Rajon Rondo, stunning the Hawks, 87-80, Tuesday in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The series is tied at one game each. Game 3 is Friday night in Boston, and Rondo will be back for the Celtics in that one, his shorthanded team having claimed the home-court edge. The stellar point guard sat out a one-game suspension for bumping an official in the opener.

PAUL PIERCE knocked down the free throws to clinch it, then dropped to a knee near midcourt. He wasn't planning on Tebowing, but it just felt right. "You just want to thank God for putting you in those positions," Pierce said. "It wasn't pre-scripted. It just came to me. " With a stunning performance, Pierce single-handedly led the Boston Celtics to a playoff win - even without their floor leader. Pierce battled through another tough shooting night to score 36 points and the Celtics wiped out Atlanta's 11-point lead in the second half, stunning the Hawks, 87-80, on Tuesday in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference series.

The win was so thorough that St. Joseph's Prep lacrosse coach Eric Gregg didn't even bother huddling his team for a postgame chat. Just a "see you tomorrow at practice. " There really wasn't anything to say. For the Hawks, Wednesday's 15-4 road victory over Archbishop Carroll in the Catholic League was another installment in the team's feast-or-famine type of season. The Prep (10-5 overall, 8-1 league) has scheduled tough, and lost handily to teams that most observers would expect (Haverford School, Episcopal Academy, and league foe La Salle, all ranked in the state's top five by PhillyLacrosse.com)

THE BOSTON Celtics lost Game 1 - and they may have lost their floor leader for Game 2. Josh Smith scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as the Atlanta Hawks built a big lead early, then held on for an 83-74 victory over the visiting Celtics in their opener of the Eastern Conference playoffs Sunday night. But this one will be remembered for what happened in the final minute, not the Hawks' blistering start. While complaining about a call, Boston star Rajon Rondo was ejected for bumping an official and faces a possible suspension when the teams meet again Tuesday night in Atlanta.

The 11th-seeded St. Joseph's women's tennis team fell to No. 6 George Washington, 4-0, at the Atlantic Ten Championship in Charlottesville, Va., Thursday. In doubles, the Hawks' Casey Robinson (Harriton) and Aurora Davis lost, 8-3, to the Colonials' Mimi Hamling and Zoe Krohn , while Devi Jadeja (Lower Merion) and Laura Matz (Merion Mercy) dropped an 8-0 decison to Meg Tyner and Jacqui Corba . In singles, Matz of St. Joseph's lost to Hamling, 6-1, 6-0, and the Hawks' Kelly Mulquin was beaten, 7-5, 6-2, by Tyner.

First they beat one of their local rivals on Sunday, earning a semifinal berth in the Camden County Tournament. Then they defeated a defending state champion on Monday, and a defending South Jersey champion on Wednesday. So this has been a pretty good week in a season that has been better than advertised for Haddon Township's baseball team. Yet not surprisingly, the Hawks aren't that shocked at such a strong start, even if the rest of us might be at least semi-surprised.