As dress rehearsals
go, last night was about as good as it gets for St. John's. They handled Baruch College 99-49 in an
exhibition win that stood in direct contrast to Chris Mullin's debut just about
a year ago. In that game St. Thomas
Aquinas college beat an undermanned and
inexperienced St. John's team handily.
This year, with 5 new faces and a group of returnees that were eager to bring about a different outcome, they
made quick work of the Bearcats.
The Red Storm did
have a jittery first few minutes as they missed their first six field goal
tries but that proved to be their only detour on the way to an easy win. In
those moments they appeared to be looking to quickly for the three point shot and began to play
better once the ball went inside. Juco scoring ace and Bronx native Bashir
Ahmed got the offense going with a quick post up for a basket and it seemed
like St. John's relaxed after that. Ahmed scored 15 of his 19 points in the first
half as he and 3 other newcomers
joined returning sophomore Federico Mussini in double figures for St.
John's Mussini finished with a game high 21 points. Guards Marcus LoVett and Shamorie Ponds added
14 and 12 respectively and forward
Richard Freudenberg had 12. Each of the young players filled the other columns
on the stat sheet. LoVett had a team high 5 assists while Ponds had a team high 5 steals.
Perhaps more than the numbers and
certainly more than the game's result, last night was important because it gave
the coaches, fans and the players themselves a chance to see how the team would
function with all the new faces. There
were plenty of good signs as Coach Mullin experimented with lots of different
combinations thanks to options that simply were not there for him in his rookie
season. "I liked our effort and I liked the way we shared the ball,"
Mullin said of his team's play. And with respect to the different combinations
many fans had been looking forward to seeing he mentioned that LoVett and Ponds
played well together both offensively and defensively. I would hasten to add that the presence of
those two was a big help to Mussini and may continue to improve his production
all season. With the ball handling and playmaking duties now well shared by 3
fine guards Mussini had fresh legs and his shooting remained sharp from the
game's start to its finish. LoVett and Ponds both played much better in the second half. Ponds made his
impact defensively while LoVett flashed some of the playmaking abilities the
team will need from him once the opposition gets tougher. His best moment came
in the second half when he drove and found center Yankuba Sima with a pretty no-look dime.
Mullin also
put Ahmed and Fruedenberg together with
great efficacy. "We like them together because they have different skills," Mullin said of the two
forwards. "We see Richard as more of a spacer and shooter and Bashir as
more of an attack the basket guy." They combined on one play that saw
Fruedberg throw a perfect diagonal pass to Ahmed on the wing with which Ahmed
smartly drove to the basket and scored. All in all this was an impressive dress rehearsal
for both coach and players alike.
Off the court news and notes: Sophomore swingman
Malik Ellison sat out the game with an elbow injury but will reportedly play Saturday in a closed
scrimmage vs. pre-season top 25 URI. Top 2018 recruit and Archbishop Molloy
7'1" center Moses Brown was at the game. The game was a basketball
family affair for Mullin since Baruch is
coached by long time friend John Alesi. John is of course the son of former Xaverian coach Jack Alesi who was an
assistant there when Chris led the Clippers to a state title in 1981. Jack was
also Mullin's first coach in the CYO program at St. Thomas Aquinas Parrish in
Brooklyn's Flatlands section
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