Following last night's 79-74 win
against DePaul in Queens late last night St. John's forward Jakarr Sampson, who
combined with Sir^Dominic Pointer to score all 10 of the team's points in
overtime, took a brief at what lay ahead for his team. He pointed to big games
against Louisville and Syracuse as reasons why he came to St. John's, and was
reminded gently but firmly that he had omitted the one coming first, Saturday
against Georgetown.
St. John's young players can be
forgiven for looking ahead though, not just because they picked up their sixth
league win and not just because they'd won their fifth straight. Perhaps most significantly, even though they
were playing at Carnesseca Arena, they won a game that had the "survive
and advance" feeling of a march tournament game either at the Garden for
the Big East or on the road for an NCAA tournament game.
First and foremost St. John's
survived a terrific effort by DePaul. Coach Steve Lavin said the Blue Deamons
played "...as hard as any team we've faced this year including Georgetown which
had us down by 26 at the Garden at one point". The Blue Deamons outrebounded
St. John's 52-39 and were so aggressive in the game's opening moments that
Lavin was compelled to call an early time out. The 1-5 Deamons came in with a chip on their shoulder
following a loss to the Johnnies in Chicago 12 days ago and got strong
individual performances from guard Brandon Young and swingman Jamie Crockett.
The first half was tight until a
late rally that included baskets by Harrison, Jamal Branch and Amir Garrett
gave St. John's a 38-31 halftime lead. A
Sampson dunk as the second half began extended that margin to 9 and appeared to
give St. John's a comfortable margin.
DePaul slowly but steadily chipped
away at that margin over the next few minutes. Young who finished with a game
high 21 points and Crockett who finished
with 15 provided much of the offense but DePaul also got key plays from Donovan
Kirk inside and Charles McKinney driving to the basket. Young's triple tied the
game for the 7th time at 65 with 4:30 left. Moments later, St. John's faced
more trouble when Harrison fouled out with 3:45 left. The two free throws that
followed gave DePaul a two point advantage.
Pointer
quickly erased that advantage with an offensive rebound and dunk and after Crockett gave DePaul the lead
again, Jamal Branch made two free throws
that tied the game at 69. St. John's nearly had a chance to win the game when
Sampson was fouled apparently as the buzzer sounded. Lavin warned his team to
be ready for overtime as the officials reviewed the video. His warnings proved
prophetic but St. John's, save for Sampson did not seem ready for the extra 5
minutes.
DePaul executed a perfect tip play
to start the overtime and sent McKinney streaking to the basket for an apparent
layup. But Sampson refused to give up on the play coming back "like Gotham
City" as his coach said, to block the shot. When the ball deflected off
McKinney and St. John's had possession, Branch missed two free throws and the
game remained tied but on their next possession Pointer had another offensive
board for a dunk to give St. John's a lead. Free throws by Cleveland Melvin
tied it and a jumper by Young gave DePaul the lead again. Baskets by Pointer and Sampson sandwiched
around a Young free throw gave St. John's a 75-74 lead. Late free throws from
Sampson who finished with 13 points combined with defensive stops to ice the
game for the Johnnies. Harrison had a
team high 17 points and St. John's offset the rebounding margin by committing
just 5 turnovers while DePaul had 18.
In a league where things can change
rapidly, St. John's appears to be on good footing as they get ready for the
season's most difficult stretch. While, as Lavin suggests. "It's hard to
take universal truths..." from good wins, it's also hard not to look ahead
and wonder if a young St. John's team took its first steps toward March.
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