Curbelo Takes MVP honors, Leads St. John's to Empire Classic Title in OT over Syracuse

 

   David Jones’ pull up jumper from the right side 2:11 left in the extra session gave St. John’s the lead for good at 69-67.  Syracuse’s Joe Girard, perhaps fatigued from being chased by a diligent Red Storm defense missed the front end of a one and one.  At that point Posh Alexander and Andre Curbelo, the two point guards that many worried might not be able to work together combined in a way that even the most optimistic Johnnies’ fan might not have imagined.

   Curbelo initiated the set play against the Syracuse zone. Posh set a screen for him at the right elbow. When Curbelo passed him the ball he quickly shifted a pass to Joel Soriano, who tried to power in a dunk and missed. For one of the few times in the game and at the rim a Syracuse defender was called for a foul. Soriano’s first free throw crawled over the rim and gave the Johnnies a 3-point lead. He calmly swished the next one, pushing the lead to 4 with 1:27 left. Curbelo then stole a Syracuse pass and then scored on a goaltending call. After ‘Cuse’s Jesse Edwards scored in the lane it was up to Curbelo to cap his MVP performance. Dribbling to the foul circle, probing a now extended zone defense. He found Jones again for a triple that affectively ended the ballgame, provided the final margin of victory (76-69) and gave St. John’s the Empire Classic Tournament Championship in a game that was held at new venue (Barclay’s Center) but had the feel of an old-fashioned Big East slug fest played at MSG or the Carrier Dome.

     St. John’s opened the game determined to make Joe Girard work for every point. They had, after all, watched him torch Richmond for 31 points in the Orange’s opening round win. While that strategy worked thanks to Posh Alexander, Montez Mathis and Dylan Adde-Wusu’s sharing the task, the Orange found scoring elsewhere, primarily in the person of freshman guard Judah Mintz who scored 16 of his team high 20 points in the opening half.

   Even when the Johnnies tried to get some traction in the first half, they seemingly sabotaged the effort. After Curbelo connected on a deep triple to cut what had been an 11-point deficit to 3 with six seconds left. Mintz took a quick pass from talented sophomore Benny Williams who converted a 3-point play to give the Orange a six point margin.

   Syracuse briefly bumped their margin back to 10 points when Girardi connected on a long 2-pointer on what may have been his only clean look of the game.  To their credit St. John’ kept coming. After Curbelo and Syracuse’s Chris Bell traded triples to make the score 50-40 with 15:08 left in the game the Johnnies went on 16-2 run. Jones gave them their first lead of the 2^nd-half when he followed in his own miss and completed a 3-point play with 9:28 left. A moment later Mathis connected on two free throws to complete the run and give the Red Storm a 56-52 lead. The Johnnies led by 65-61 after a bucket by Curbelo 2:39 left in regulation. After that senior center Jesse Williams scored four straight points on two free throws and a post-up. With the game tied at 65 the Johnnies forced a tough shot from Symir Torrence to force the extra 5 minutes. Both teams turned the ball over on their first possession of OT and that set the stage for the Johnnies. Jones and Curbelo provided the offensive spark while Adde-Wusu, whom coach Anderson subbed in for Mathis because he “wanted someone with fresh legs” to guard Girardi provided the defensive effort. “I like gritty”, Anderson said when asked to asses his team’s potential after the game. He got plenty of that from Adde-Wusu and the rest of his charges and they earned a terrific in season tournament win against an old but still hated rival.

 

Notes And Observations: Curbelo finished his MVP effort with a career high 23 points on 9-13 shooting that included a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. Jones and Soriano each had double doubles.  Jones had 19 points and 13 rebounds while Soriano added 18 and a career high 14 rebounds. Posh Alexander’s modest numbers (7 points and 4 boards in 44 minutes) should not diminish in anyone’s eyes how well he’s playing. He did a terrific defensive job on Mintz in the 2^nd half but continued to set up easy baskets for his teammates (5 assists). He demonstrates the ability to see plays develop no matter where he’s positioned in the offense. That ability will help the process of two dynamic and ball dominant point guards learning to play well together. Last but not least an observation about starters playing heavy minutes.  Curbelo played 40, Jones all 45, and Posh 44. I think that was done primarily because of the importance of the games with respect to rankings and a possible at-large tournament bid. I suspect the staff will go back to trying to develop the bench in these next few games. If they can succeed even a little bit the Johnnies may have some more options when they need them most.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curbelo's Late Buckets Lift St. John's Past Temple For Empire Classic Showdown vs. Syracuse

 

        Andre Curbelo worked through a game that saw him shoot 4-14 from the floor and commit 6 turnovers. Fortunately for him, and for St. John’s, he saved his best work for when it mattered most.

     The former LuHi star and Illinois transfer converted two tough right-handed drives while moving down the left side to give St. John’s the lead for good in what would ultimately be a 78-72 win over Temple in the first round of the Empire Classic at Barclay’s Center last night.  The first of those drives came after the Owls’ Zach Hicks connected on a trey to give his team a 72-70 lead. Curbelo was fouled as he banked in the layup and made the free throw to give St. John’s a 1-point margin. On Temple’s next possession, his partner in the backcourt Posh Alexander forced Damian Dunn, the Owls leading scorer, to dribble the ball off his foot. Curbelo then made a similar right-handed drive down the left side, a little closer this time perhaps, but with the same result save for the foul, gently banked in off the glass.

  Prior to Curbelo’s heroics, Hicks’ basket that had briefly given Temple the lead came following a turnover where St. John’s tried to force an inbounds pass along the sideline to Alexander. It’s worth noting because the ups and downs of the game’s final sequence were indicative of the entire game for St. John’s

   The Johnnies began the game shooting terribly (4-25 at one point and 0-8 from 3-point distance in the first half) and Temple took advantage with the help of one of the Big 5’s best shooters Khalif Pratt who scored 13 of his 17 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Owls lead by as many as 13 in the first half but St. John’s countered using terrific pressure defense and inside scoring.  A 20-5 half closing run gave them a 32-30 margin at the break.

   Temple started quickly in the second half with a 10-3 run before St. John’s responded with a run that included 6 points from David Jones as well as key baskets from Alexander and O’mar Stanley, who was a perfect 4-4 from the floor and provided great energy and toughness on defense.

   The game see-sawed back and forth with both teams making clutch plays until the stage was set for Curbelo’s clutch baskets. Montez Mathis who, as his coach Mike Anderson suggested “looked like a mature senior” lead the Johnnies with 18 points. Joel Soriano finished with 15 points and 12 boards all while engaging in a terrific battle down low with Temple’s Jamille Reynolds who finished with a game high 21 points. Reynolds’ individual point total may have been higher but that should take nothing away from Soriano’s effort. In a fast-paced game and despite foul problems, he provided a tough and strong presence in the lane. With the Johnnies’ win and Syracuse’s 74-71 overtime win over Richmond the stage is set for a clash between two old Big East rivals.  It’s perhaps fitting that they will be playing for a championship in Brooklyn, where two of their greatest players, Chris Mullin for St. John’s and Pearl Washington for Syracuse, honed legendary games. 

 

 

                                                                                                                

St. John's Posts Convincing Opening Night Win, With one Big Red Flag

 

St. John’s new arrivals from the transfer portal helped propel them to a convincing 97-72 win over Northeast Conference rival Merrimack in their season opener at Carnesecca Arena last night. Juniors Andre Curbelo (Illinois) and David Jones (Depaul) led a balanced attack that featured five double digit scorers.

    Curbelo finished with 13 points and 7 assists as he started alongside returning point man Posh Alexander. The two of them together worked out as many had envisioned. Posh added 14 points and 5 assists of his own while contributing 6 steals. Jones scored 14 of his game-high 21 points in the second half and helped St. John’s maintain the margin they built early despite the one huge red flag that came with the win, 29 turnovers.

   Merrimack came into the game sporting a brief yet impressive division one history. They arrived from one of the best D-2 leagues in the country, the Northeast 10, and adjusted quickly, winning the Northeast Conference’s regular season title in 2019-’20. Given what passes for wisdom at the NCAA these days despite their quick success coach Joe Gallo’s Warriors could not compete for a post-season tournament title and the NCAA bid that went with it because they’re still thought by the powers that be to be in the “transition phase” to Division one athletics. Make no mistake, they are thriving, favored to be regular season league champs again featuring pre-season conference player of the year Jordan Minor.

     Gallo’s teams feature a sticky 2-3 match-up zone and while St. John’s built their early lead moving the ball well against it once they built that lead they got careless.

   The Johnnies used a 23-5 run to take a 32-14 lead with just over 9 minutes to go in the first half. Jones and Soriano provided the scoring punch while Curbelo and Posh pushed the tempo. The Johnnies took a 51-30 lead into the locker room, and saw that lead extended when Jones connected on three treys early in the second half.

            Merrimack was finally able to make St. John’s pay a bit for the turnovers as they closed the gap to 15 points with 8:34 left in the game. After that St. John’s regained their footing and following a steal and bucket by Posh the Johnnies had their largest margin of 87-58 with 5:02 left in the game

Notes Observations And OMG 29 Turnovers: First and foremost, congratulations to Montez Mathis who scored his 1,000^th career point with 6:15 remaining in the game. While most of those were scored during his time at Rutgers, he has carved out an important niche at St. John’s as a defender and scorer on the court and a leader in the locker room congratulations.

Before we get to the bad stuff here’s some of what was good: Five double figure scorers is always good and in addition to Posh, Curbelo and Jones, Mathis and Soriano each hit double figures. Soriano had a double double with 12 and 11 caroms. The Johnnies limited the Warriors to 20.7% shooting from deep and won the battle of the boards 47-26. St. John’s will need to keep having statistical advantages in those areas (especially 3-pt% defense) as the level of competition improves and especially once conference play begins)

Here we go 29 turnovers: As I mentioned earlier Merrimack coach Joe Gallo plays what appears to be a 2-3 match up zone defense. It’s hard to follow in part because it’s hard to know when and where they’ll match up other than ALWAYS it seems defending guards out front. That said. It would be nice to tell you that part of St. John’s turnover problem stemmed from seeing an unusual scheme for the first time. It would be nice but it wouldn’t be true. As coach Mike Anderson noted “We got a lead and we got sloppy with the basketball. We got quick and we got in a hurry”. Then he added quickly, “that will be addressed”. With one in the books, and a game Saturday vs. Lafayette one thing is certainly lots of work to do.