Marcus Lovett led four double figure
scorers with 23 points as St. John’s scored a deceptively easy 77-61 win over defending
Southland Conference Champion New Orleans at Carnesecca Arena last night.
Lovett and Michigan State transfer Marvin
Clark, who played his first game for St. John’s provided the best most
consistent scoring options for the Red Storm. Lovett’s 23 points came on 7-14
shooting from the floor and included 5-10 from beyond the arc. Clark took fewer
shots but missed just once in six tries, and made both of his triples in route
to a terrific 15-point debut. Their hot
shooting helped offset an effort that their coach Chris Mullin perhaps politely
and certainly correctly described as “choppy”.
Which might as well be coaching shorthand for “We got a win but we need
to get better.”
St. John’s trailed only briefly in the game’s
opening moments and in fact got out of the gate quickly thanks to some early
good work from their other transfer Justin Simon. While many who know his game
project him as more of a playmaker who can help facilitate the scoring of
Lovett and Shamorie Ponds, he showed off terrific athleticism finishing two
dunks and a layup propelling St. John’s to an early lead and getting the crowd
involved early. For good measure he did indeed throw in an assist during the
rally; a nice pass to Ponds who converted a triple.
Coach Mark Slessinger’s Privateeers never
got rushed despite the early fireworks. In fact, they used soft zone pressure
on defense and a patient “flex” offense to stay close in the game and create a
tempo that made St. John’s a bit uncomfortable at times. As Coach Mullin
explained. “We got a little too concerned with what they were doing instead of
just playing.” Thanks in part to the hesitance
that they created UNO trailed by just a basket at 30-28 with three minutes
remaining in the first half. St. John’s closed strong with a 7-0 run and
extended the spurt to 17-5 in the opening moments of the second half to lead
47-33. While they were never challenged UNO never got away from their tempo and
was able to stay within hailing distance of the Red Storm. While some St. John’s
fans may be concerned about the sloppy play keep in mind that the team and
coach they faced were tournament tested and tough so they simply provided a
tougher test than the typical season opener.
Other
thoughts and Observations
1. While Lovett and Clark had strong
games shooting the ball St. John’s other two double figure scorers did not. Shamorie
Ponds finished with an inefficient 12 points on 5-15 shooting. The rest of his
game was however solid as always with 6 boards and 6 assists. Forward Bashir
Ahmed finished with 10 points on 3-9 shooting and had 4 turnovers.
2. While both the players and coach
Mullin tried to downplay the issue of depth at the post game presser it was
exposed a bit. Freshman reserve Bryan Trimble was ok in limited minutes as a
reserve guard. He connected on 1 of 2 triples and had an assist in 10 minutes.
Up front junior Kassoum Yakwe and senior Amar Alibegovic struggled badly in
limited minutes and were part of the reason why UNO out rebounded St. John’s
42-27. That margin should be alarming since UNO did not have a player with the
kind of size and athleticism that one might think would contribute to such a
margin. More than any area that’s the one St. John’s must be better if they
want to do well once the schedule gets tougher.
3. Two former PSAL players returned home
to play for UNO at Carnesecca Arena. Tyren Harrison, a former all Queens guard
at Campus Magnet finished with 6 points while former Lincoln High standout
Ezekiel Charles finished with 8.
Up next for St. John’s is a Tuesday night tilt vs. Coach Donyell Marshall’s
Central Connecticut State Blue Devils beginning at 6:30 pm.
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