Although their journey is not quite over, St. Joseph's seniors Chet Stachitas, Dwayne Lee and Dave Mallon can always look back on their careers and claim they were part of one of the most fascinating eras of Hawks basketball.

As freshmen and sophomores, they learned from and celebrated with perhaps the finest trio of guards in school history: Jameer Nelson, Delonte West and Tyrone Barley. They were sophomores during St. Joe's magical run to a 27-0 regular season and No. 1 ranking two years ago.

Last season, they carved their own niche when they joined Pat Carroll, one of the greatest long-range shooters in Big Five history, for a surprising run to the NIT championship game even though many predicted a hard fall after Nelson, West and Barley departed.

This season, they have refused to allow the limitations of a flawed team beat them down.

It was Senior Day on Hawk Hill today, the time when the players' families come to celebrate their achievements, when memories threaten to distract from the task at hand. But St. Joseph's easily disposed of Richmond, 70-39, in an Atlantic Ten Conference game at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

Their third consecutive win in the final home game of the season pulled the Hawks (13-12, 7-7 A-10) above .500 for the first time since Feb. 4. Two A-10 games remain before the conference tournament.

"It's fun and sad at the same time," said Lee, who scored 11 points. "It's sad to be going."

The Hawks started slowly, laboring to find a comfort zone against Richmond's matchup zone, which has held opponents to a league-best 57.3 points a game. But the Spiders didn't have the firepower to keep up. St. Joe's ran off 19 straight points while holding Richmond scoreless for nearly eight minutes in the second half.

Lee opened the second half with back-to-back three-point shots to kick-start a 25-4 run that buried the struggling Spiders (11-16, 4-10), who lost their eighth straight.

Stachitas also scored 11 points, sharing team-high honors with Lee. "It was a special game," he said.

"Everything the last four years went so quickly," said the 6-foot-10 Mallon, whose injury-riddled career is nearing a satisfying conclusion. He has helped tighten the Hawks' defense since he moved into the starting lineup in the middle of January. "It didn't hit me until I looked up and saw my mom crying. It's been an incredible ride."