PHILADELPHIA, Pa.- The Lafayette men's basketball team continued the Jordan era with a close 63-59 loss at St. Joseph's Hagan Arena on Monday evening.

Lafayette's top performance came through junior Kyle Jenkins who totaled 18 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished two assists and added a block and a steal as the Leopards took the Atlantic 10 foe down to the wire. CJ Fulton (15) and Justin Vander Baan (8) combined for 23 points for the Leopards.

Lafayette opened the first half with three straight 3-pointers from Jenkins, Leo O'Boyle and TJ Berger. Josh Rivera then put back a dunk, assisted by a pass from Jenkins. For good measure, Jenkins added another 3-pointer to keep a 14-11 Leopard lead at 13:07.

The Hawks made a 7-0 run by the 8:17 media timeout, fueled by a pair of 3-pointers from Christian Winborne and Cameron Brown.

Vander Baan put together his own six-point spurt, netting a 3-pointer, a layup and a free throw to bring the Leopards within four (27-23) just two minutes later. A Fulton 3-pointer closed out the half with the Hawks leading 36-26.

Vander Baan's dunk early in the second half sparked energy back into the Maroon and White (18:40), as the offense got rolling from the get-go. 

Fulton exploded off of a steal to give Rivera a layup, breaking the 30-point mark. Jenkins helped close the gap at 14:23 with two 3-pointers, 44-36, as both teams battled back and forth.

The Hawks extended their lead to 13 points at 14:12, their largest of the game. Lafayette's Jenkins and O'Boyle made back-to-back triples to trim that lead to five and force a St. Joseph's timeout (10:08). Fulton squeezed the gap to three points with a set of driving layups to make it 52-49. 

Freshman guard Ryan Pettit took possession off of another steal by Fulton and sank a crucial 3-pointer to keep the Leopards in contention, 57-54 just before the final media timeout.

Tough defense and knockdown shooting kept the Leopards within three points as the clock ticked down from the three-minute mark.

Both teams found themselves in a scoring drought from 4:32 to 1:25, prior to a battle of free throws by St. Joseph's Erik Reynolds and O'Boyle.

The Hawks stayed ahead with a pull-up jumper from Cameron Brown and two Lynn Greer free throws, even with O'Boyle shooting 2-for-3 at the line and an extra 3-pointer from sophomore guard Devin Hines (0:15). 

The Hawks shot 42 percent from the field and had 14 points in the paint and 13 off turnovers. Reynolds led St. Joseph's with 21 points, shooting 7-13 from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point range. Reynolds made both of his free throw attempts for the evening.

The Maroon and White shot 43 percent from the field and had 16 points in the paint and 10 off the bench. Lafayette managed 28 points off 19 St. Joe's turnovers. The Hawks out-rebounded Lafayette 30-23, including an 8-3 margin on the offensive glass. 

The Leopards travel to Baltimore, Md. on Friday to take on UMBC, with an overnight stay to face Central Connecticut State the following afternoon in a neutral site contest.

For the latest on the Lafayette College Men's Basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMBB and Instagram @lafayettembb.