NCAA Game Summary - St. Bonaventure vs. Saint Joseph's

Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Halil Kanacevic racked up 26 points and 17 rebounds and Saint Joseph's pulled away in the second half on Saturday to beat St. Bonaventure 67-48 and earn a trip to the Atlantic 10 Tournament final.

Kanacevic scored 16 of his points in the first half to counter a slow start by the Hawks (23-9), who outscored the Bonnies 38-19 after the break to set up a meeting with VCU in Sunday's final.

The second-seeded Rams pulled away to beat George Washington later Saturday.

Langston Galloway added 18 points and Ronald Roberts Jr. scored 12 for the fourth-seeded Hawks, who advanced to the A-10 final for the first time since 2008, when they lost to Temple.

They still earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament that year -- their only trip since the 2003-04 team that went unbeaten in the regular season and made a run to the Elite Eight.

The wins over Dayton and St. Bonaventure should earn them a berth this year no matter what happens on Sunday. They beat VCU 69-62 at home on Feb. 8 in the only meeting between the teams during the regular season.

Charlon Kloof scored 10 points to lead the ninth-seeded Bonnies (18-15) and Jordan Gathers -- who hit the buzzer-beating 3-pointer to topple top-seeded Saint Louis on Friday -- added nine.

Saint Joe's beat Dayton in Friday's quarterfinals after Galloway hit a three down for the lead. The Hawks seem to be back on track after a two-game losing streak at the end of the regular season put the stops on an 8-1 stretch that earned them votes in the Associated Press poll.

The Hawks haven't won the A-10 tournament since 1997, when they made a run to the Sweet 16.

The Bonnies were chasing another tournament title after winning their first in 2012 as a No. 4 seed. They held the Hawks scoreless for 5 1/2 minutes in the first half between 3-pointers by Kanacevic and Chris Wilson and built a 19-10 lead.

But Saint Joe's, behind an 11-2 run, came back to tie the score at 29-29 going into the break and scored seven straight points during an early stretch in the second half to take the lead for good.

The Bonnies had just four points in the first nine-plus minutes of the half as the Hawks built a 13-point lead.