Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Figueroa And St. John's Start Slowly but Finish Strong for Third Straight Win


    St. John’s used a late 12-0 run to extend a 3-point margin to 15 and break open what had been a perilously close game against America East Conference rival New Hampshire. The Red Storm’s final margin of victory, 74-61 is simply not indicative of how close the game was, how well New Hampshire played or the obstacles St. John’s had to battle to get the win.

   Trailing 8-7 early in the game’s opening moments New Hampshire used an 11-0 run to grab an early edge and lead by as many as 12 in the first half. They extended their first half margin to as many as 12 points behind a trio of outstanding forwards; Shane Sufferin, Chris Lester and Nick Guadarama, who, along with reserve guard Mark Carbone, each connected from deep and were strong with the ball against St. John’s pressure.

    “I thought they took the fight to us…and were a little more physical than we were in the first half”, coach Mike Anderson said. Adding to St. John’s struggles was a scoreless first half from Mustapha Heron, who was saddled with 2 early fouls and may well have been a bit tentative when he re-entered the game.  LJ Figueroa, the Johnnies second leading scorer was having his own struggles, including at one point a hat trick of misses from the free throw line. He finished the first half with 12 points but did not connect on his first basket until a bit over 7:30 remaining in the first half. Combine those factors with 9 first half turnovers for the Johnnies and it’s remarkable that they took a 36-34 lead into the intermission when Marcellus Earlington followed in a Figueroa miss.

     Figueroa finding the range from deep was key to St. John’s first half rally and the win. He finished with a career high-tying 25 points and 8 rebounds and 5 steals but while St. John’s struggled at times to find scoring options to offset Heron’s uncharacteristically poor shooting night, they found them in several different ways. Included in David Caraher’s 9 off the bench were six points scored on a three-point shot and a hoop and harm 3-point play that kept St. John’s within hailing distance as New Hampshire surged to an early lead. Josh Roberts, as a starter, and Earlington in a reserve role found ways to score making energy plays to score. Roberts finished with 12 points 7 rebounds and 4 blocks while Earlington had 8 points and 4 boards.

   Each of those elements helped St. John’s regain their footing in the second half but they lead by just 3 points with six minutes left when the game deciding spurt came about. Figueroa provided 5 of the 12 points in the run while freshman Julian Champagnie provided the other 7 and punctuated the rally with a hoop and harm slam dunk after Figueroa tapped his own free throw miss in his direction with just over 4:30 left in the game.

    “To our guys credit we got down double digits but the game is 40 minutes long…I thought Marcellus (Earlington) David (Caraher) and Greg (Williams) that bunch came in and became a blue collar team and enabled us to do the things we needed to do to get back in the game”.
Ultimately, his team’s blue collar approach did much more than get them back in it. It enabled them to grind out a win despite just 5 points from Heron. It also likely gave them a glimpse of what they might need to beat the America East’s defending champion and pre-season favorite Vermont on Saturday.

Good Thoughts and Prayers for Nick Johnson: This is usually where I put “Notes and Observations” but for this recap I’d like to remember one of New York’s own Nick Johnson; who was the CHSAA’s “A” division player of the year last year for All Hallows High School and coach Marvin McCullough. He is now red-shirting at New Hampshire following a torn ACL he reportedly suffered during summer workouts. Recovery and rehab can be a lonely road but all of us who know Nick through basketball are no doubt with him in spirit wishing him a full and speedy recovery.


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