Chris Obekpa set a personal best and
school record of 11 blocked shots and helped his teammates to a school record
of 15 blocks as St. John's held off Fordham 58-47 in the Holiday Festival at
Madison Square Garden last night.
The Rams entered the game with a 1-7
mark and the problems that have plagued them all season did in this game also.
They shot poorly (29%) and .turned the ball over entirely too much (23 times).
In the face of those ugly numbers
Fordham had done a few things right. As
coach Tom Pecora said after the game,
"If you had told me that we'd contain D'Angelo Harrison to 14 points and
Phil Greene to 8 I'd say hey we have a chance to win this game".
His team also out rebounded the Red
Storm 54-40 thanks primarily to a strong effort from sophomore center Ryan
Canty whose hard running led to easy opportunities for baskets and while the
presence of Obekpa and JaKark Sampson meant he didn't finish them all he had
made enough to give the Rams a 27-24 halftime advantage.
St. John's would bounce back from
that first half that coach Steve Lavin called "our poorest of the
season" to score take a 31-27 lead as the second half began. They'd take the lead for good with an 11-3
run that gave them a 49-41 advantage with 5:31. Sampson contributed six points
to that rally including two with his trademark jumper from the key and two free
throws. And while Lavin talked about Obekpa's unique combination of timing and
length to describe what he called a "unique" shot blocking ability. Sampson
succinctly described his teammate's impact on the game. "When Chris blocks
a shot it energizes us it's like a dunk on offense," Sampson said. "t makes us want to play defense and be
there with him defensively."
That energy helped St. John's fight their
way past both a wide rebounding margin and a poor shooting effort for an
important win against a local rival. Sampson posted a double double with 16
points and 10 boards. Obekpa added five rebounds and seven points which included one tough jumper from the key
and one put back dunk which had the same energizing effect as his blocks .St.
John's improved to 7-3 on the year. Fordham which dropped to 1-8 and hopes to
have leading scorer Chris Gaston back for Saturday's game against Princeton at
Barclay's Center got 15 points and 16 rebounds from Canty
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