St. Joseph’s Goes Overtime, Has Nebraska in Final

St. Joseph’s is no stranger to overtime games, having played six this season. The Hawks lost three, two to top-ranked Massachusetts.

The Minutemen were at the National Invitation Tournament on Tuesday night, but only as spectators, watching their fellow Atlantic-10 member St. Joseph’s get a three-point play from Will Johnson 38 seconds into overtime to take the lead for good in a 74-69 victory over Alabama.

That puts the Hawks (19-12) into the NIT’s title game Thursday night against Nebraska, a 90-78 winner over Tulane in the first game of the semifinals.

Alabama (19-12) forced overtime when Eric Washington’s three-point basket with seven seconds to play in regulation made it 65-65.

The presence of the UMass team was not lost on the Hawks, who would like to reciprocate in kind at the Final Four. But it’s a tough ticket.

“The UMass program showed a great deal of class by coming to our game tonight,” St. Joseph’s Coach Phil Martelli said. “We offered to come and support them at their game Saturday, but [Coach] John Calipari said he didn’t think he could get us the necessary seats.”

Terrell Myers led St. Joseph’s with 20 points.

In the first game, Nebraska (20-14) continued its hot postseason shooting, making 57% of its shots in reversing its course. The Cornhuskers had lost 10 of their last 11 games before righting the ship in the NIT.

Tulane is 21-10.