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La Salle's David Bell (middle), and St. Joe's Delonte West (left) and Tyrone Barley (right) crash for a rebound last night at the Palestra. The Hawks' win clinched their first Big 5 title since 1979-1980. [Eric Sussman/The Daily Pennsylvania]

With one minute, one second remaining last night, Saint Joseph's guard Delonte West drove the lane and slammed down an emphatic left-handed dunk to push the Hawks' lead over La Salle to 71-51. The Palestra crowd echoed its approval in a resounding roar for a player that was questionable at the beginning of the game with a stress fracture. It was the exclamation point on a banner Big 5 season for St. Joe's and the team's first City Series title since the 1979-1980 season. A punctuation mark to a dominant game on both ends of the court. "What we've done tonight is what I feel, is put our first three accomplishments up there -- 20 wins, an Atlantic 10 bye...and the city champs," St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said. "That's the first three lines in the team's bio that will be there forever." St. Joe's All-America candidate Jameer Nelson led the charge for the Hawks (20-4, 4-0 Big 5) in the 75-53 win. His 18 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds have almost become stats of rhetoric by now. "The numbers are the numbers for Jameer -- it's understanding how to play the game," Martelli said of his star's 17.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game. "This kid is the most valuable player for his team in the country." Maybe the Hawks' dominance on the defensive end shouldn't be surprising, either. After all, they are ranked No. 1 in the nation in field-goal percentage defense and second in scoring defense -- allowing teams 36.3-percent from the field and 56.4 points per game. But this was impressive even for the Hawks. St. Joe's held La Salle (10-14, 0-3 Big 5) to 25.7-percent (18-70) shooting from the field on the night, as La Salle's star freshman Gary Neal recorded 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Much of the containment of Neal can be attributed to Hawks' guard Tyrone Barley. "I don't think anyone's done this in this league as a freshman," Martelli said of Neal's Atlantic 10 rookie-record five 30-point games and 14 20-plus games this season. "I've been debating...but if anybody doesn't recognize that Tyrone Barley is the best defensive player in the league than they're fooling themselves." For most of last night, La Salle drove to the rim and threw up whatever shot it encountered -- no matter whether there was a St. Joe's big man in the post or three guards doubling down on the drive. In the first ten minutes, the strategy worked -- the Explorers went on a 10-2 run in one three minute stretch of the half to tie it at 12 and later went ahead by one with 5:12 remaining in the half. But the 70 total shots on the night finally wore out La Salle. The Explorers did, however, draw 23 teams fouls from the Hawks -- including seven in the first 6:57 -- and also grabbed 23 offensive boards. The St. Joe's big men preyed on the La Salle mistakes, swatting seven blocks -- all in the first half -- and grabbing 53 rebounds. La Salle freshman David Bell did not make a field goal until 6:12 into the second half in his 37 minutes of action. "When you have two guys go 5-17 and 2-15 I guess you can credit the defense," Hahn said of Neal and Bell's performances. "Myself, I think it's a combination of both" the defense and bad shooting. As if things were not tough enough for Hahn, already down 16 with 2:33 remaining, Neal collapsed with what Hahn later explained to be a strained patellar tendon. "You know the phrase," Hahn said. "When it rains, it pours."

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