St. Joseph’s is lucky that Phil Martelli made sure he left an extra ticket at will call.
The Hawks may or may not have had divine intervention on their side thanks to their coach as St. Joseph’s barely beat Xavier 58-57 in a thrilling first round matchup in the Atlantic 10 tournament at Barclays Center on Thursday night.
“I think everybody should know this, I left a ticket for the Pope,” Martelli said. “He’s a Jesuit, it was two Jesuit schools, I don’t know if he was here, but I did leave a ticket for Pope Francis. I wish him well.”
The knockout blow came in the form of two made free-throws by Hawks guard Langston Galloway after he was fouled by Xavier freshman Semaj Christon while driving to the basket with 1.4 seconds remaining.
“The play was to come off the bottom of a screen and try and make a play for the team and that’s what I did and they called a foul,” Galloway said. “I just wanted to take my time, relax and shoot the free throws like I’ve been practicing.”
In a play that Martelli called an “act of God,” Xavier forward Isaiah Philmore had an easy look that would have won it for the Musketeers but his shot hit off the back rim and time expired.
“It was a tough way to lose,” Xavier head coach Chris Mack said. “They made two more free throws than we did…that was the difference in the game. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.”
The full court pass was more of a broken play than anything. The pass was designed for Travis Taylor but sailed high, hit off the backboard and landed in the hands of Philmore.
“We wanted to throw the ball to the rim,” Mack said. “The pass from Justin [Martin] had a little too much air under it. It was a tough play but it certainly isn’t the reason we lost.”
If this was a heavyweight fight, the first half would have been the equivalent of two boxers feeling each other out and trading jabs.
Outside of the 5-0 lead that St. Joseph’s jumped out to at the start of the first half, neither the Hawks nor the Musketeers were assertive against their opponent, instead opting to trade blows in a first half that featured eight lead changes and four ties.
“I thought that this was going to be a possession game and at halftime I brought up a couple of possessions that I thought we gave away,” Martelli said.
In fact, outside of that initial Hawks burst, there was never a lead greater than four points on either side of the ball. Xavier’s largest lead came following a Brad Redford layup that put the Musketeers up 20-16 with just over seven minutes to play in the first half.
Redford combined with Taylor for 17 of the Musketeers’ 23 first-half points.
On the other end of the court, things were a little more razzle-dazzle with St. Joseph’s pulling off a couple of eye-popping dunks and passes to keep the crowd energized.
The highlight of the first half for either team came when Hawks forward Halil Kanacevic passed to a cutting Langston Galloway who, despite being fouled, threw the ball down with authority and then converted the three-point play to give St. Joe’s a 28-25 lead heading into the half.
But then the two A-10 schools came out throwing haymakers, trading knockdown blows in the second half.
“[Xavier] had some deflections [that led to points],” Martelli said. “Then we got some stops, we were able to play at a brisker pace. I think that was the difference in the two halves [that led to the runs].”
The first came from Xavier, which went on a 10-0 run to jump out to an eight point lead. The Musketeers were led by Taylor, who scored six points during the run.
When it seemed like the Hawks were down for the count, Carl Jones answered the 10 count and drilled a trey that sent St. Joseph’s on a 17-1 run.
“We had a big basket off a timeout and that allowed [the players] to catch their breath. We’re fragile, very fragile,” Martelli said.
The Hawks’ second-half attack was powered by Kanacevic, a Staten Island native, as he finished the night with 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists before fouling out.
“[Kanacevic] allows us to run offense,” Martelli said. “He gave us a force in and around the basket, particularly with defensive rebounding. He’s got the highest basketball IQ on the team.”
Saint Joe’s will play VCU in the second round of the tournament on Friday.
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com