St. John’s has Multiple Leads Pillaged by Seton Hall in Loss, 84-72
St. John’s were the better team for almost 30 minutes in that game, but the other 10 minutes were enough to sink the Red Storm pirate ship and lose 84-72 to Seton Hall.
Like Charles Dickens quote, this game was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of stupidity, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of unbelief, it It was the time of light, it was the time of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. The Johnnies guided us all through the gambit of emotions.
It was a worrying start for the Red Storm. Andre Curbelo had 2 turnovers in the first 3 minutes followed by turnovers from David Jones and Joel Soriano making it 4 turnovers in the first 4 minutes. To make matters worse, Seton Hall had 6 buckets on the edge in the first 7 minutes.
The Johnnies continued to bolster defense and the Pirates were on the sidelines 2 to 11 for the rest of the half.
The offensive came easily to St. John’s in the first half. Seton Hall seemed genuinely surprised that the Red Storm had high pick and roll on every line of possession all year. The muddled Pirate defense led to several open looks from deep for the Johnnies, and St. John’s – particularly early – knocked down the open looks, finishing half-shooting 5 for 7 from beyond the arc.
Chris Hagen
St. John’s had a 13-point lead with less than 4 minutes to play, and a 2-minute slinger threw away most of Red Storm’s lead. The Johnnies gave up 3 largely undisputed threes in a row, propelling Seton Hall on a 12-0 run to close the gap.
A layup by Posh Alexander attempted to salvage what was left of the half, but St. John’s went into the half by just 3 points, 35-32.
Chris Hagen
The game got bumpy in the second half when Curbelo and KC Ndefo each got technical fouls after 7 minutes into the half, after which Curbelo was ejected. There are two types of technical fouls on these St. John’s teams. One type is the whiny, chirping technical fouls at the end of a game that has already been lost. The other – the type we had tonight – is where the Red Storm turned the game into a street fight and officials fear they are losing control of the competition.
Chris Hagen
St John’s attacked the basket in the second half, drawing nervous whistles from the umpires while Seton Hall weaved around the boundary for the sake of weaving.
Just as the Johnnies were retiring, Seton Hall made another run to regain the lead. The Pirates had four players in trouble before the Red Storm stopped attacking the basket while Seton Hall hit three more three-pointers in a row. Again.
That’s it for the Johnnies. Seton Hall’s 18-4 run, followed by St John’s, who simply ratcheted up the Pirates’ pace in the final 4 minutes, put the Red Storm by a margin where they looked uncompetitive.
In the end, St. John’s lost to Seton Hall 84-72.
Next, St. John’s heads to Cincinnati to face Xavier on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
St. John’s Red Storm
AJ Storr: 15 points (4-12 FG, 3-6 3PT), 3 rebounds
Posh Alexander: 13 points (5-10 FG), 4 rebounds, 4 assists
David Jones: 11 points (4-9 FG, 2-4 3PT), 4 rebounds
Seton Hall Pirates
Al-Amir Dawes: 21 points (5-14 FG, 4-9 3PT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists
Kadar Richmond: 15 points (6-17 FG, 1-3 3PT), 13 rebounds, 7 assists
