St. John's Wins the Old Fashioned Way vs #13 Butler 76-73

              Before St. John's could put last night's 76-73 win over  #13 Butler on the left side of the ledger they had to endure one last scare. Even though the Red Storm's freshman star Shamorie Ponds had connected on four straight free throws, Butler still had one last chance to tie the game and force overtiime.  Bulldogs' guard Kelan Martin, who finished with 13 points took a pass and put up a half court shot that in hindsight may have reminded Butler fans of Gordon Hayward's last second heave against Duke in the 2010 National Championship game. Luckily for St. John's  Martin's shot also produced the same result. It was nearly perfect but bounced harmlessly off the rim. And at 76-73 St. John's had their first win over a ranked team since 2014, their first 1-0 conference start since 2011 and, perhaps most significantly, the first signature win of the Chris Mullin era.

              The win came thanks to several significant moments for St. John's, but perhaps the best thing St. John's did was compete and win in a game that was essentially an old fashioned Big East slug fest. With a loud and sold out crowd at Carnesecca Arena, they matched an intense and physical Butler team, played them even on the boards, and shot over 50 for the game against a defense that was infinitely better than the one they faced against Syracuse last Wednesday.

              Shamorie Ponds, who acknowledged the crowd in his post game remarks, was again the calmly efficient offensive star. His 26 points included a perfect 6-6 from the line and 9-15 shooting from the floor. It's worth noting also, that Ponds and his team mates did a terrific job of making the two point shots that Butler's extended defense gave them. They made just 4-16 three point tries but got enough from  2 point distance and enough from the free throw line (18-23) to earn the win. They combined that shooting effort with perhaps their best effort of the season defensively, holding a Butler team filled with veteran scoring options to 46% shooting from the floor and 24% from beyond the arc. And they held Butler's top two scorers, Martin and center Andrew Chrabascz  to 13 and 4 points respectively.

              The two teams played a  nearly even first 30 minutes and in the early going St. John's found offense from Bashir Ahmed who scored 11 of his 19 points in the first half. They also got another big lift from Darien Williams, who finished with six points on perfect shooting and six rebounds. While the Red Storm limited Butler's two top scorers they got strong contributions from Tyler Wideman  and guards Avery Woodson and Kethan Savage.

              The two teams were tied at 38 as the second half began. The veteran Bulldogs slowly began to build their margin behind Savage, Woodson and some unexpected good work off the bench from center Nate Fowler.  Butler grew that lead to 61-51 on a triple by Woodson with 10:34 remaining and after St. John's  quickly trimmed the lead to 5 on an Ahmed triple the next few minutes were played within a 3 to 7 point window.

        After a Martin jumper made the score 69-64 with 2:56 left, St. John's began what would ultimately be a victorious final push. Ponds connected on a contested three pointer and then combined with Malik Ellison  for a steal that saw Ellison scoop up the loose change and slam home the game tying basket. A layup by Wideman gave Butler the lead back but St. John's got another contested jumper, this time by Marcus LoVett, to pull even  at 71 with 41 seconds left. Ellison was then fouled rebounding a Tyler Lewis miss. He made the first free throw but missed the second only to be picked up by team mate Tariq Owens whose hustle created a tie up and kept possession with St. John's The inbounds play that followed allowed St. John's to get Ponds to the line where he drained both free throws. St. John's fouled purposely but Lewis made them pay for that strategy cutting the deficit back to a single point with 6 seconds left. Butler fouled Ponds again and again he made both free throws. With the lead back up to 3 points Chrabascz missed a long triple. Lewis then alertly fouled Williams who had rebounded the miss sending him to the line. He missed the free throw, which Chrabascz rebounded and quickly pitched it ahead to Martin for his last ditch game tying attempt. As the ball bounced off the rim and the team and fans celebrated a great win, national prominence may have still seemed a ways off for St. John's. But what they did do was welcome themselves back to the ultra competitive scrum that is Big East Conference Basketball. Two weeks ago even that first step forward did not seem likely to be made this season, but here they are and it's sure nice to have them back.