When Saint Joseph’s faces St. Bonaventure in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament on Friday, March 9 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., Carl Jones, Hawks 5-foot-11 junior guard, will be ready to face the Bonnies. This postseason contest will tip-off at 2:30 p.m. on Comcast Sportsnet.

Saint Joseph’s is coming off an 80-64 opening round win over Charlotte on Hawk Hill. However, SJU dropped a 98-93 decision in double overtime to St. Bonaventure on the road last week. Nevertheless, Jones seems to have his shooting touch as he scored a game-high 23 points in the victory over the 49ers. He shot 7-for-11 from the field, 3-for-4 from three-point range and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. He also finished the game with no turnovers.

“It’s a big game for us,” Jones said. “We lost a tough one there. We’re hoping to bounce back on Friday and pull out the win. I thought I had to do whatever it took to get us to the next round. We want to keep advancing and advancing.”

Jones leads the Hawks in scoring. He averages 16.5 points a game. He has the ability to score from long range. Jones also uses his quickness to get in the lane and break his man down in the open court. He will be a major player in terms of how successful the Hawks will be in the tournament. Saint Joseph’s has a 20-12 overall record. They have a chance to get to the NCAA tournament. But Jones knows the team has to play extremely well to win the tournament or receive an at large bid.

“We just have to keep playing together,” Jones said. “We just have to keep playing the way we’re playing. We need to keep this movement going and keep coming together. This is real big for us as a team. We just want to do whatever we can do to keep this run going. ”

Jones has scored in double figures nine consecutive games. He’s capable of getting the hot hand and carrying the Hawks in the tournament. Of course, Jones will have plenty of help from teammates, 6-foot-2 sophomore Langston Galloway (15.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg), 6-foot-9 sophomore C.J. Aiken (11.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.7 bpg), 6-foot-8 sophomore Ronald Roberts Jr. (11.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and 6-foot-8 sophomore Halil Kanacevic (8.3 ppg, 8.2 rpg).

Contact Staff Writer Donald Hunt at (215) 893-5719 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Montel Harris, Temple senior running back, has been named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week. In Saturday’s 37-28 win over South Florida in the Big East opener, Harris recorded his first 100-yard performance with the Owls, leading the rushers with 133 yards and two touchdowns. He leads the nation with 23 total 100-yard games in his career. Harris also earned Big East Helmet Stickers from ESPN.

Coaching greats Franke, Sloan Green to be honored

Current Temple fencing coach Nikki Franke and former lacrosse coach Tina Sloan Green are among 12 African-American women who will be honored by the Burlington-Camden Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi in November.

Through its community development corporation, Kappa Alpha Psi will celebrate the achievements of these 12 women at Auletto’s Catering in Deptford, N.J., on Nov. 4. This year’s Master of Ceremonies will be Eleanor Jean Hendley, a past honoree who is an Emmy-award winning former CBS 3 Eyewitness News education reporter. Tickets for the event are $60 per person and can be obtained by calling Richard A. Williams at (609) 634-5551.

The other 10 honorees are: Gwendolyn Joyce Brown, Paula René Bruner, Jericka Duncan, Norma Evans, Frances Jones, Charisse R. Lillie, Rochelle D. Laws, Yvette Sample, Aleta Sturdivant and Carolyn James Weeks.

Franke, a native of New York City, graduated with honors from Brooklyn College in 1972 where she was a four-year letterwinner in fencing and was named NIWFA All-American. She was later inducted into the Brooklyn College Hall of Fame in 1979. From 1973 to 1981, she was a member of the U.S. National Fencing Team.

Franke was a member of the 1976 Olympic fencing team in Montreal and the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. In 1975, she was a member of the U.S. Fencing Team in the Pan American Games and was a silver medalist as an individual while also winning a team bronze.

Dr. Franke is currently an associate professor in Temple’s department of Public Health, having completed her master’s degree in health education from Temple in 1975 and the doctoral program in 1988. Franke, a Hall of Fame coach, is entering her 41st season as director of fencing and women’s foil coach at Temple with an impressive 625-156-1 career record. She has been Temple’s fencing coach since the program began in 1972 and has led the Temple fencers to 40 postseason appearances.

Sloan Green co-founded the Black Women in Sport Foundation in 1992. Since assuming the helm, she has worked to ensure that young underserved minority students gain full exposure to nontraditional sports as well as to provide healthy alternatives to at-risk women and children in all aspects of sport. Sloan Green’s impressive track record for filling a much-needed void in women’s sports continues to garner the organization increasing support from both the public and private sectors.

Sloan Green leaves an indelible mark on any project she takes on. She was the first African-American head coach in the history of women’s intercollegiate lacrosse. She was head coach of Temple’s lacrosse team from 1973 to 1992. During this time, Sloan Green amassed a 207-62-4 career coaching record with a .758 career winning percentage. She led the Owls to three national championships and 11 consecutive NCAA Final Four appearances.

Her work off the field is very impressive. As professor of Sport and Culture in Temple’s College of Education, she served as co-principal investigator of Sisters in Sports Science, an initiative funded by the National Science Foundation, and director of the Temple University National Youth Sports Program.

Saint Joseph’s picked to finish first in Atlantic 10

Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team has been picked as the preseason favorite in the Atlantic 10 Conference for the 2012–13 season, according to a poll of the league’s head coaches and media. In addition, four Hawks — C.J. Aiken, Langston Galloway, Carl Jones and Halil Kanacevic were named to the preseason all-conference teams. The Hawks open the season on November 12 hosting Yale in the first game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

NCAA tickets at Wells Fargo Center to go on sale on

Tickets for the second and third round of the 2013 NCAA men’s basketball championship at Wells Fargo Center will go on sale on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available exclusively through ComcastTIX.com or by phone at 1-800-298-4200.

Four second games will be played at Wells Fargo Center on March 22 and two third round games will follow on March 24, as tournament participants seek to advance to the 2013 Final Four in Atlanta.

Wells Fargo Center has previously been the site of the 2006 and 2009 NCAA men’s first and second rounds, which was hosted by the Atlantic 10 Conference; the 2001 NCAA men’s East Regional; and the 2000 NCAA Women’s Final Four. Wells Fargo Center also hosted the 2011 NCAA wrestling championships.

Contact staff writer Donald Hunt at (215) 893-5719 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

This could be a big year on Hawk Hill. Saint Joseph’s was selected as the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Hawks return all five starters from last year’s 20-14 team, which advanced to the first round of the NIT. Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph’s head basketball coach, is keeping everything in its proper perspective as the college basketball season begins.

Despite the early season accolades, he knows the Hawks have some work to do. In fact, they have a great non-conference schedule that will test Saint Joseph’s right away.

The Hawks will open the season on Nov. 12 at home against Yale in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic game. After that, Saint Joseph’s will then battle Notre Dame in the tournament on Nov. 16 in the Barclays Center. The Hawks will then face either BYU or Florida State, as the championship and consolation games will be played on Nov. 17.

“Always in our scheduling we try to prepare our team to play on the road in the Atlantic 10,” Martelli said. “So, we have road games in there and people would say shouldn’t teams in this league play a lot of home games. Well, two we would like to play a lot of home games. We have student season tickets that sold out in six days. Then, the additional allotment that went to students sold out in three minutes. They deserved to see their team. It’s their team.

“Scheduling, you go to New York play Notre Dame won over 20 NCAA tournament, BYU won over 20 NCAA tournament and Florida State won over 20 NCAA tournament. It’s planned a certain way that we’ll be challenged.”

The Hawks have some quality players in the backcourt with guards Carl Jones and Langston Galloway. Jones led the team in scoring with 17 points last season. Galloway was Saint Joseph’s second leading scorer tallying 15.5 points a game.

Up front, they have 6-foot-9 C.J. Aiken, the 2012 A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, who ranked fifth in the nation in blocked shots with a 3.53 average. In addition, 6-foot-8 Ronald Roberts was the A-10 Sixth Man of the Year last season. Halil Kanacevic, a 6-foot-8 power forward, averaged 8.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game last season.

“They’re experienced players,” Martelli said. “They’ve played a lot of games. They deserved to hold their heads high and stick their chests out. They can say, ‘Wow! We won 20 times last year. We went to the postseason.’ They should embrace those 20 wins.”

Jones, a 5-foot-11 senior, spent a lot of time polishing his basketball skills during the summer months. He’s excited about the upcoming season on Hawk Hill.

“I just hope we can come together and do the things we need to and finish those games we didn’t finish last year,” Jones said. “I feel real good about that (preseason favorite). We know what people can do now. We know our weaknesses and strengths. It should be a lot better.”

Galloway, a 6-foot-2 junior, is coming off a strong season. He’s one of the Hawks best all-around players. He’s well aware of all the attention.

“It’s been great, but you have to keep working to get better,” Galloway said. “You have to be prepared for when time comes to play in the Atlantic 10. We want to build on last year. We want to do more. We’ve all been working this summer to try to get better. We’ve been working on our jump shots and going to the basket. It’s going to be exciting to see how far we can go.”

Contact staff writer Donald Hunt at (215) 893-5719 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .