Defense Lets One Get Away From St. John's 72-65

              Suffice it to say, St. John's didn't want to go into Big East play following a game like this. The Red Storm begin Big East play on Jan. 2nd at the pavilion against Villanova and if last night's surprising loss to Big South Conference champion UNC-Ashville is any indication, problems the team has had all season remain trouble spots that could hurt the team's chances as they start to face teams that can match, and in some cases, surpass them physically.

            For the third time this season, St. John's let a significant double digit lead slip away. It happened twice in Charleston in losses to Murray State and Baylor. This time, St. John's led on their home floor at Carnesseca Arena by 17 points with 3:11 to go in the first half. And as they built that lead there were lots of good signs. primarily with ball movement and shooting. To their credit Ashville never wavered in their style of play and tempo. They responded to the high flying athletes St. John's features in the paint with terrific fundamentals and physical toughness. Chris Obekpa had another big day with 6 blocks but often the opportunities for those plays came from poor defense as St. John's guards repeatedly allowed penetration. After St. John's opened that 17 point margin coach Eddie Biedenbach's squad had a run that included the last 5 points of the opening stanza and suddenly the lead was just 40-30 and the feeling that St. John's had let the Bulldogs hang around was palpable.

            St. John's held a 54-42 lead with just over 12 minutes left when Jeremy Atkinson began a rally with consecutive 3 pointers against what appeared to be a confused St. John's defense. Their zone inevitably gives up treys and Ashville made 4 in the second half. Today they also allowed inside plays. Ashville's point guard Keith Hornsby. who broke a 65-65 tie with a buzzer beating triple with 1:30 remaining. Moments earlier he had tied the game at 65 by leaking out following a forced St. John's shot for a breakaway dunk. The Bulldogs closed the game with a 7-0 run and out rebounded St. John's 40-30.  That margin included 13 offensive  rebounds. Atkinson pumped in a career high 31 points and added 9 rebounds. Hornsby added 14 and had 5 assist. D'Angelo Harrison lead St. John's with  24 points . In his Red Storm debut Jamal Branch had 2 points 3 boards 2 assists and 4 turnovers in 14 minutes of action. Although he was charged with those 4 turnovers he helped provide the ball movement for St. John's strong first half start.