Thursday, November 20, 2014

Sir'Dominic Points the way to win for Johnnies

                             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.




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