By Anthony E. Parelli (@reportedbytheAP)
Spotting your opponent 18 points is a less than ideal way to start a game.
Staying poised, regrouping and outscoring that opponent by 28 the rest of the way is a good way to make up for it, however.
St. John’s was able to bounce back from its gruesome start to down Seton Hall, 81-71, on senior night at Carnesecca Arena Saturday.
The win gave the Red Storm a 16-10 record on the year and 10-9 in conference. It guarantees that St. John’s, which was picked to finish ninth in the conference, is afforded a bye in the Big East Tournament and will — at worst — end up as the No. 5 seed. It can grab fourth place if Xavier falls to Marquette Saturday night.
The first seven minutes of the contest were, putting it lightly, a nightmare for the Johnnies. Seton Hall’s talented, but inconsistent offense was firing on all cylinders and the Red Storm had no answers on the opposite end of the floor.
St. John’s first points came via a Dylan Addae-Wusu and-one at the 13-minute mark. From there, the Red Storm chipped away, as Marcellus Earlington’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to single digits with eight minutes left in the period. The Johnnies were able to get within six points, but squandered several opportunities to get even closer, eventually trailing 38-28 at the half.
Whatever it is St. John’s coach Mike Anderson has been saying at halftime is working. After erasing an 11-point deficit to Providence on Wednesday, the Red Storm once again was able to come back in short order.
A Greg Williams, Jr. layup, followed up by a Julian Champagnie and-one trimmed the gap to just five a minute into the second half. Vince Cole’s three made it two points and a Rasheem Dunn layup tied it at 44 with 15 minutes left.
St. John’s grabbed its first lead of the game a minute later on Earlington’s desperation three as the shot clock expired and never looked back. Addae-Wusu’s step-back three and two free throws on the next possession extended the advantage to double digits with 11:30 remaining. A Cole turnaround jumper with six minutes left gave the Red Storm its largest lead of the day at 12. Seton Hall clawed back to within six with four minutes to go, but St. John’s executed enough down the stretch to keep the Pirates at bay.
My takeaways from the win:
Next man up
With Posh Alexander sidelined for the second straight game nursing a sprained right thumb, and Isaih Moore only playing three minutes in the first half, it was once again up to the ancillary players to pick up the slack.
While Dunn wasn’t able to replicate his 21-point performance from Wednesday’s win, he did a little bit of everything for the Red Storm, finishing with seven points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Freshman Dylan Addae-Wusu continues to be a pleasant surprise, scoring 14 points off the bench and playing with poise and confidence well beyond his years while Williams continues to find his game following his back injury, scoring 11 points while grabbing five boards and tallying five assists.
Staying ready
In that same vein, redshirt freshman John McGriff has been buried at the end of the bench behind the Red Storm’s talented staple of guards, but with the absence of Alexander, McGriff saw extended minutes Saturday.
The lefty isn’t a prolific scorer – although he did drill a clutch three as St. John’s battled back in the first half – but his ball handling and quickness, especially on the defensive end, were instrumental in the victory.
March-cellus
The past two seasons, Earlington has been at his best in the biggest moments. The junior forward came off the bench to score 12 points on four made 3-pointers and grab six rebounds. His prowess from deep was the difference as St. John’s was able to tie, and eventually pull away, in the second half.
Limiting Mamu
Seton Hall senior Sandro Mamukelashvili is just too good a player to keep completely quiet, but holding the big man to 15 points and 10 rebounds was a huge improvement over his 32-point performance back in the conference opener on Dec. 11. Despite giving up substantial size to the 6-foot-11 Mamukelashvili, Champagnie, Earlington and Josh Roberts were able to use their athleticism to frustrate the star into a 6-for-13 performance.
Making a case
Now that the regular season is officially over, it’s fair to judge the body of work come postseason award time. Alexander is a lock to finish as the conference’s Freshman of the Year, and has as good a shot as anyone to win Defensive Player of the Year. The last player to claim both awards was Allen Iverson in 1995 – six years before Alexander was born.
The battle for Big East Player of the Year is a murkier race, but Champagnie has certainly made his case. The sophomore overcame a slow start (five points on 2-of-7 shooting) to finish with 22 points. Champagnie finishes the year as the Big East’s leading scorer and tops in free throw percentage, and is the only player in the country to score at least 12 points in every contest he played in. At worst, his performance this season should lock in a spot on the All-Big East first team.
Meanwhile, it would take a pretty strong argument to convince me that Anderson isn’t the Coach of the Year. Taking a young team to an over .500 finish after a 1-5 start in conference play, completely outplaying its preseason rank and upsetting the likes of Villinova, Xavier and UConn all while battling injuries to some of his most important players – Anderson has more than proven he was the right man for the job in Queens.
Next up
Now the fun starts. St. John’s has played its way back onto the bubble, although it still has lots of work to do if it wants to earn an at-large bid, and that work starts Thursday in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Saturday’s win locked up a first-round bye, and St. John’s will either face Seton Hall or Xavier in the quarterfinal round.
Saturday’s win locked up a first-round bye, and St. John’s will either face Seton Hall or Xavier in the quarterfinal round.
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