St. John's Celebrates With Big Win

 

     On a day that saw St. John’s celebrate their coach’s birthday and a career milestone for their best player and leader, Julian Champagne, the team played its most complete game of the season. In what would ultimately be an 82-64 win for the Johnnies over Patriot League rival Colgate, coach Mike Anderson saw his team build and maintain a significant margin. The reasons for their success were simple, fewer turnovers, and bench production.

    The Johnnies committed just six turnovers and moved the ball crisply for easy transition buckets from start to finish. Their play was highlighted by two transition buckets that were two pass fast breaks where the ball never hit the ground; one following a Montez Mathis steal where he passed the ball ahead to Champagnie who, without a dribble floated a pass ahead to Posh Alexander for a layup, and then a second following a Champagnie block that saw Pinzon pick up the loose ball and hit Posh, again without a dribble, for another easy deuce.

    Two nods of appreciation must be given before we take a closer look at the bench production. The first is to Dylan Adde-Wusu, whose entrance into the starting lineup following the loss to Kansas on December 7^th has helped the starting lineup by adding a player who moves the ball, guards multiple positions in multiple areas (in the post and on the perimeter) and has the ability to start the offense, no small thing because it compliments Alexander’s relentlessness attacking the basket. Wusu’s place as a starter also means that Stef Smith can come off the bench with even more of a scorer’s mentality than he usually does, while he may not be part of a complete second unit, his ability to score when starters, particularly Posh and/or Julian are off the floor, becomes more important.

    The second nod is to coach Anderson who has insisted that the big picture for this year’s edition of the Red Storm include developing the bench and, to borrow his words from previous post-game pressers “make it a strong part of our team.” For now, that remains a lofty ambition, and time will tell whether yesterday’s game was a step in that direction. In the short term, the bench helped them avoid a repeat of the scary end game situation they encountered vs. Monmouth where it took an alert defensive play by Alexander to save a possession and ultimately preserve a tight win. Grad transfers Smith and Aaron Wheeler played well but the best work of the bench brigade came from the two freshmen, O’mar Stanley and Rafael Pinzon.  Stanley had 6 points and 5 rebounds while continuing to provide St. John’s defense with a defender who can hedge and switch while playing the “5” position. Pinzon, the former Long Island Lutheran star who has struggled since a thumb injury suffered in practice following the loss to Indiana broke out in a big way with 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting and 3 assists. “I keep using this word; he’s got moxie,” Anderson said of Pinzon. “When you look at him and O’mar (Stanley) they bring a lot to the table. He (Pinzon) has a good basketball IQ he plays with nice flair and basketball savvy,” said the coach.

   All tolled the bench accounted for 34 points which may well have kept Colgate’s strong 3-point shooting game (they made 13) from becoming the equalizer it might have been and has been. Colgate had the lead only briefly in the 1^st half and St. John’s not only extended it to 23 points but kept Colgate from posing a serious threat.  For that reason, it was not only a great birthday present for the coach but an early Christmas gift for the fans.

Notes and Observations: Champagnie achieved the 1,000-point milestone in a typically efficient game, scoring 19 points on 7-12 shooting including 5-7 beyond the arc. He became the 52^nd player in the program’s history to reach that total and met the moment with characteristic humility. “It’s exciting to join a great list of guys who did that here. I take pride in it but it’s on to the next game,” he said.

Colgate played the game without leading scorer and point guard Nelly Cummings. The senior missed the game with what was called an “upper body injury” Senior Jack Ferguson scored a game high 23 points for the Red Raiders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. John's Escapes Upset Bid By NJIT 77-68

 

        Joel Soriano opened the overtime period by snaring on offensive rebound and converting a pass from Dylan Adde-Wusu. After James Lee and Montez Mathis traded hoops and St. John’s led 67-65, Soriano took another pass, this time from Julian Champagne who converted a hoop & harm 3-point play. Lee responded for NJIT with a three-point play of his own to trim the lead back to 2 points at 70-68. From there St. John’s would score the last 7 points of the extra session to earn a 77-68 win over America East foe NJIT at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday.

    It took St. John’s a while to get going as NJIT, behind a quartet of talented guards, controlled the tempo for the game’s first 20 minutes. There wasn’t in this game the 3-point barrage there had been Wednesday by St. Francis but there was a slow and steady approach in which NJIT ran their sets and maintained a small lead throughout much of the first half. When Posh Alexander took a pass from Montez Mathis to give St. John’s a 5-point lead, the highlanders calmly inbounded the ball and Antwuan Butler threw a perfect hit ahead pass to Dylan O’Hearn who stroked a 3-ball and sent the Highlanders into the locker room trailing by just 33-31.

   The Johnnies appeared to take control of the game with a 17-5 run that included 10 straight points. It gave them a 58-42 lead with just over 11 minutes to go. Posh Alexander, returning from a calf strain that caused him to miss Wednesday’s game lead the rally with steals, a play that saw him soar through the air to get an offensive rebound and convert to free throws, and the terrific ball pressure that makes St. John’s defense go. “It’s contagious”. Coach Mike Anderson said of Alexander’s energy. “It picks up the whole team.”

    St. John’s got some energy from an unexpected source at the back end of that defense. Juco transfer Esahia Nyiwe scored just a single point on a free throw he banked in but during the aforementioned rally he had 3 blocks, a steal and 3 rebounds. He also proved to be a valuable defender, providing not only rim protection but the ability to switch on dribble hand off action and ball screens. “He didn’t have to score but he made a major contribution”, Anderson said of Nyiwe.

      With his team leading by 16 Anderson took out the unit that had sparked the rally to give them rest. It nearly backfired as the team never regained their flow on offense as they made just a pair of field goals while NJIT went on a 21-5 run to tie the game at the end of regulation.  They were fortunate to get just enough offense to start the overtime and 4 clutch free throws from Wusu to survive another scare.

Notes And Observations Soriano and Alexander tied for team high scoring honors with 16 each for the Johnnies. Guard Dylan O’Hearn had game high honors with 19 points while Lee added 17 for NJIT

When asked why he took the unit out that had built the 16-point advantage Coach Anderson cited the amount of time that unit had been in the game as well as his desire to develop a strong bench.

Freshman guard Rafael Pinson missed his 3^rd straight game with a broken finger. Coach Anderson said that he would hopefully begin shooting “next week” but that they would be cautious with the injury.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. John's Holds off FDU 87-74

 

    The optimistic St. John’s fan might look at yesterday’s 87-74 win over FDU and like that they overcame an uncharacteristically poor shooting game from star forward Julian Champagne. The pessimistic fan might lament St. John’s poor defense against FDU’s 3-point attack, 15 turnovers, many of which were unforced, and a lethargy that marked St. John’s effort after a fast start.

    Wingman Montez Mathis scored 5 quick points in the game’s opening moments, and 9 of his 13 for the game in the opening half. He and fellow transfer Steff Smith, who scored 9 of his 14 in the opening 20 minutes, helped trigger a 20-9 spurt in the middle of the half that helped St. John’s to a 45-32 halftime advantage. Careless turnovers kept that margin from becoming more significant as the first half drew to a close. And to their credit FDU was able to find a bit of traction on offense despite their leading scorer, Brandon Rush, missing his first 6 shots.

  St. John’s extended their margin to 20 with the help of a 9-0 run capped by a Dylan Adde-Wusu triple. FDU rallied behind the terrific shooting of junior guard Devon Dunn, who scored 15 of his game high 24 in the second half. Rush regrouped from his slow shooting start with the help of two terrifically athletic drives to score 12 of his 14 points in the second half. The Knights carved the lead to single digits twice in the second half. Lead by Dunn’s 6-8 FDU shot 50% as a team from beyond the arc while St. John’s shot just 23% on 5 for 22 shooting.

   Despite shooting just 6-19 from the floor Champagne finished with 17 points 10 boards and 3 steals. Wusu finished with a team high 5 assists to go with 6 points. Dunn’s 24 points took game high scoring honors.

Notes & Observations: St. John’s played yesterday without freshman Rafael Pinzon and grad transfer Tareq Coburn who missed the game due to injury and illness. Pinzon reportedly suffered a small fracture to his finger in practice on Friday and will be evaluated tomorrow (Monday). Coburn was absent due to non-Covid related illness.

Grad transfer Aaron Wheeler may prove to be a barometer guy as the season moves along. Yesterday he had a terrific sequence in the second half that included a triple, a drive to the basket and an assist. The drive was a play where he needed just a couple of dribbles to get to the basket and it appears that he can attack the basket in smaller spaces but struggles when trying to handle the ball farther away from the hoop. If he can become a consistent mistake free source of energy for the Johnnies it will help them as the competition gets tougher.

Last but not least a shoutout to a pair of my favorite New York CHSAA players, both from Bronx schools, who gave FDU some very good minutes. Joe Munden Jr. the physical wing from Msgr. Scanlon who’s now a sophomore at FDU finished with 10 points and 2 rebounds off the bench. Freshman Ibrahim Wattara of Mt. St. Michael’s Academy played as he always has, tough inside despite giving up size and length. He finished with 8 points and 3 boards off the bench. Both guys will be important players as FDU competes for the tournament bid in the Northeast Conference

 

 

Quick Start Lifts Red Storm Over Peacocks 91-70

 

    Coach Mike Anderson referred to last season’s 76-75 win over St. Peter’s as “a nail biter”.  In that game the Johnnies needed a last second jumper from the since departed Vince Cole to avoid an upset. Anderson reminded his team that the Peacocks had brought nearly the entire roster of that team back. To avoid a repeat of last season’s drama things would have to be a bit different.

    “We wanted to establish how we defensively how we wanted to play”, Anderson said following his team’s 91-70 win at Carnesecca Arena last night. “We emphasized keeping them out of the lane and using our size advantage on the glass and of course we made some shots.”

   Making shots provided the early springboard for the Johnnies fast start. Julian Champagne and Posh Alexander each connected on 3-pointers and Joel Soriano had two early dunks, one on a pretty drive and dish from Alexander to sprint to an early 13-5 advantage. Following a bucket by St. Peter’s Clarence Rupert hot shooting by Champagne and Hofstra transfer Tareq Coburn propelled St. John’s on a 21-5 spurt and effectively broke the game open. Alexander tied his career high with 9 assists with just one turnover. Champagne finished with an efficient 22 points on 5-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Alexander had 12 his own while grad transfers Coburn and Wheeler finished with 17 and 11 respectively. Wheeler’s defensive energy was perhaps his most important contribution to the win since he and Soriano improve St. John’s ability to challenge shots at the rim with their length. The Johnnies blocked 7 as a team but changed several more. And they negated the effectiveness of St. Peter’s driving guards and undersized bigs, including Elmont native and former Lincoln High standout KC Ndefo, who was held to just 5 points and 3 rebounds.

    Champagne noted that St. John’s has done a good job playing “with an edge” defensively and that will become important as they hit the road for a step up in weight class against Indiana on Wednesday where they will see former Knicks’ head man Mike Woodson who’s in his first year coaching at his alma mater.

Notes and Observations O’mar Stanley continues to make a terrific first impression with his energy, strength and finishing ability. In two games he has made all of his first 10 career shots, and given consistent energy as a rim runner and rebounder.

 St. John’s shot 30-59 from the floor including 13-29 from beyond the arc.

 

   A pair of stellar New York City guards Dwayne Pierce (’24) and Markell Alston (’25) were at the game with their coach Joe Arbitello of Christ the King High.

As mentioned in the game story St. Peter’s has nearly everyone back from last season. It’s worth noting that they received a strong effort from a newcomer who is familiar to fans of local basketball. Jaylen Murray a Bronx native who played at both Wings Academy and Cardinal Hayes finished with 11 points and 3 assists in 21 minutes.

My First Blog Post Since the Pandemic So Glad to be Back

 

618 days.  According to old friend and St. John’s radio color man Vin Parise, that’s the last time St. John’s played a game at Carnesecca Arena. I read that on my twitter feed and to say it gave me pause as I started to write this was an understatement. I know that prior to the exhibition game against Baruch on October 27^th the last time I was at a game of any kind was in February of 2020 to see the Brooklyn Queens Diocesan championship at St. Francis Prep.  Since then, the pandemic has kept us away from people and things we took for granted prior to this terrible tragedy. With this in mind, rather than write about last night’s 119-61 win by St. John’s over Mississippi Valley State I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all of those people who helped me while I was almost completely limited to my apartment. Those include caregivers first and foremost, who made sure I was comfortable and safe. They include family and friends who made sure that in the absence of physical contact I always had company. I want you all to know that every DM, text, phone call and masked personal visit was needed and appreciated. And in particular the talk about basketball, even the transfer portal provided a needed respite not only from the outside world but from loneliness. Last night was about quite a bit more than the result of the ballgame, or even the energy in the arena. It was about reconnecting with old and good friends and smiling just because it’s good to see them. It was about getting a small piece of life back. To all who helped me, thanks for getting me here.

      My plan is to begin writing about St. John’s again as well as about high school basketball. I have posted lots of things on twitter particularly during the CHSAA’s spring tournament. Going to high school games won’t be quite the same because I won’t see Tom Konchalski at games any more. His softly spoken good humor and firm handshake will be with me, and all of us in the basketball community. After 618 days and then some, I’m looking forward to a wonderful and complete season, with fans in the stands, with success for St. John’s, and the ability once again to write and report on the high school players and coaches who are the foundation of New York’s basketball culture.