A
spectacular all-around effort from Sir'Dominic Pointer and a strong defensive
effort in the second half helped lift
St. John's past a stubborn LIU-Brooklyn squad 66-53 at Carnesecca Arena last
night. The senior forward finished with
a career high 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting while adding 8 rebounds and 6
blocks as he helped the Johnnies beat a local foe determined to give them their
best effort.
"They
came in with purpose", coach Steve Lavin said of the visitors from Flatbush. "I was impressed with their
cohesive approach."
That
cohesiveness was even more impressive considering that coach Jack Perri and the
Blackbirds begin this season without their 4-year floor general Jason Brickman
who led them to 3 Northeast Conference titles while smashing the league's
career assist record.
In his absence a pair of freshman guards from Iceland Elvar
Fridriksson and Martin Hermannsson
helped facilitate terrific ball movement for the Blackbirds
with 5 assists each. LIU took an early 5 point lead that would have been
greater were it not for the efforts of Pointer and Chris Obekpa who combined
for 14 blocks on the day and altered countless others; Obekpa with his length
and timing and Pointer with his quick leaping ability. Obekpa's 10 rebound 8
block effort was even more impressive than those numbers indicate since, he is still clearly limited by an
injury he suffered during practice on Staten Island a few weeks ago.
The Red
Storm rallied behind that defensive effort to take a 32-26 halftime advantage.
Pointer sparked the rally with two steals he took home for slams and a pretty
cross court assist that freshman Myles
Stewart drained for a three pointer.
LIU had a
bit more fight in them though as they started the second half with a 7-0 run
that briefly gave them the lead at 33-32 but Pointer scored again, this time
converting an offensive board to give his team the lead back. From that point
sophomore Rysheed Jordan did his best work finishing with 15 points primarily
on pull up jumpers from middle distance.
D'angelo Harrison added 14 for the Johnnies while senior and former Wings Academy player Gerrell Martin added a
team high 14 points for the Blackbirds.
News and Notes: The win capped a very good day for the
Johnnies who also announced the signing of guard Samir Doughty of Philadelphia
Math, Civics and Sciences School as the first member of their 2015 recruiting
class. He is a physical attacking off
guard with good size (6'3") strength and passing ability. St. John's takes
a week off before playing Big Ten rival Minnesota at MSG on Wednesday.
