5 Takeaways: St. John’s drops nail-biter to Marquette

By Anthony E. Parelli (@reportedbytheAP)

 

The final minute of games continues to be nightmare fuel for St. John’s.

 

A fun, typical, knock-down, drag-out Big East battle between the Red Storm and Marquette had the teams knotted with 60 seconds left on the clock. To put it simply, Marquette executed and St. John’s did not, resulting in a 73-71 Golden Eagle victory at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday afternoon. It was Marquette’s first win in Queens since January 2016, when a blizzard moved the Golden Eagles and Johnnies out of Madison Square Garden.

 

After a strong defensive start, the Johnnies (7-7, 2-6 Big East) were forced to withstand runs of 12 and eight by Marquette in the first half. A Greg Elliott three at the buzzer gave the Golden Eagles a 41-30 lead at the half. Marquette outscored St. John’s, 20-8 in the paint in the first half, but the Red Storm seemed to consciously force the issue inside after the break. That opened up the offense and the hosts were able to battle back, grabbing a 53-51 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining. 

 

St. John’s could only muster just two points in the final three minutes however, and Koby McEwen’s layup with 27 seconds left proved to be the game-winner for the Golden Eagles.

 

Here are my takeaways from the loss:

 

Hero ball

After struggling through his worst half of the season, scoring just two points and catching an (uncalled) elbow to the eye, Julian Champagnie was a man on a mission in the second half. The sophomore standout and his new shiner scored 18 second-half points, including a personal 12-0 run that gave St. John’s its first lead since 8-7 early in the opening stanza. At the under-eight timeout, Marquette had 17 second-half points compared to Champagnie’s 15. Given how efficient the Big East’s leading scorer has been all season, it was encouraging to see him rebound from a tough start to put the Johnnies on his back.

 

Better effort

Speaking of encouraging signs, it was particularly nice to see Greg Williams, Jr. snap his three-game slump on Saturday. The junior drilled two 3-pointers to start the game and finished second for the Red Storm with 15 points. Ability has never been the issue for Williams, but the question remains if he can remain consistent throughout the heart of Big East play.

 

Anderson’s biggest hurdle

Still in just his second season at the helm, the biggest issue plaguing coach Mike Anderson is late game execution in tight games. The final three minutes on Saturday were the most glaring indictment of those shortcomings. Despite his strong performance, Williams was head-scratchingly missing from the lineup at times, but the last two St. John’s possessions were where the issues truly lied. 

 

Down two, St. John’s took its final timeout with the ball and 23 seconds left, plenty of time to find a good shot. Instead, Rasheem Dunn stood at the top of the arc, bleeding the clock down to 10 seconds, eventually resulting in Theo John blocking an ill-advised Vince Cole layup attempt with 1.5 seconds left. With Champagnie on fire, Williams on his game or even Posh Alexander’s ability to finish around the rim, it was, to put it lightly, a puzzling decision with the game hanging in the balance. 

 

Champagnie eventually did touch the ball, as he caught the inbound pass with 1.5 seconds left and heaved up a desperation, off-balance 3-pointer that just missed off the front rim at the buzzer – but that look was too little too late.

 

Warrior mentality

Alexander has impressed in a variety of ways midway through his freshman season, but Saturday’s effort may have been his most endearing to St. John’s faithful. The point guard took several hard falls, absorbed a handful of screens and even an elbow to the stomach but kept getting back up.

 

Clearly in pain and often times limping up and down the floor, Alexander refused to stay on the sidelines, producing his usual all-around output with nine points, four rebounds, eight assists and five steals.

 

Roberts freed 

Those clamoring for Josh Roberts must be happy with what they’ve seen the past week. After wasting away on the end of the bench for the majority of the season, Roberts was thrust into a starting role on Tuesday because of Isaih Moore’s one-game team suspension, and once again got the starting nod Saturday, even with St. John’s at full strength. 

 

The junior was clearly the Red Storm’s best low-post option defensively, blocking four shots and altering more. After he was forced to exit in the first half with two fouls, Marquette immediately unleashed a 12-0 run. Much of the Johnnies’ second-half comeback was fueled by him defensively. Anderson said on Tuesday that Roberts has earned more playing time, and he continued to do so Saturday.

 

Next up

The beauty of the Big East is that there’s never really time to get too high or too low. The Red Storm will have no time to dwell on their tough loss, as it travels to Storrs to take on No. 25 UConn Monday at 2 p.m. The Huskies are 4-1 in conference in their return to the Big East, but will be without the services of leading scorer James Bouknight, who is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on his elbow.