Late Surge Lifts Arizona Past St. John's in 2K Classic

                             For much of last night's 81-72 loss to Arizona, it looked as if a brand new St. John's team would follow a familiar script. Despite a nearly brand new roster, this year's talented and fast freshmen played a game that was very similar to the kind that last year's senior dominated squad would play.

              They withstood an early barrage of threes from Arizona, which included a pair from junior swingman Kevin Parrom, the former St. Ray's and South Kent star who made an emotional return home after suffering a gunshot wound while visiting family in the Bronx nearly 8 weeks ago. They withstood it by establishing a quick transition game, converting quickly to offense off of both misses and makes to offense, pushing the tempo and getting to the line.

              And just as he had been against UMBC, the guy who set the pace was Nurideen Lindsey.  In his Garden debut the sophomore from Philly scored a game high 18 points including a spectacular reverse layup in the first half, and an amazing double cross-over lefty drive in the second that brought ooh's and ahhs at first and the St. John's portion of the crowd to its feet.    

              St. John's trailed 44-41 at the intermission, but after a slow beginning the Red Storm, sparked by Phil Greene, Lindsey and  Mo Harkless gave St. John's a lead as Arizona cooled off briefly from three point range.  Harkless' 13 point 9 rebound effort included a quick drive to the baseline for a dunk and a beautiful assist to D'angelo Harrison on a back cut. Greene finished with 12 points, 7 of which came consecutively during the run that gave St. John's the lead while Lindsey who continued to push the tempo despite early foul problems gave St. John's its largest margin at 66-58 with a steal and layup with 7:17 left.

              Moments later Lindsey would pick up his fourth personal foul, and St. John's offense stalled.  A 16-2 Arizona run that followed essentially ended the ballgame and even though coach Steve Lavin got Lindsey back in during the run he picked up his 5th foul a moment later. By then though, the momentum had already moved to the Wildcats.

              Jordan Hill led the Wildcats with 15 points while Parrom added 6 points and 5 assists for the winners. Another former St. Ray's player, freshman Sidiki Johnson went scoreless while appearing briefly. St; John's will face Texas A&M in the consolation game while Arizona faces Mississippi State in the title game tonight.