Perhaps
it's a bit ironic that in today's 78-70 win over Seton Hall, St. John's, a team
that has tried to make the three point shot a focal point of its offense made
just three of them in what was one of this season's best wins. Two of those
triples came in a first half closing rally that helped St. John's take a 37-27
lead into the locker room at MSG that they would never relinquish. Make no
mistake though, the play that triggered the rally that included those three
point shots was all about defense and effort and came from a player who's given
St. John's those things all season long.
With just
over 4 minutes to go with the Johnnies trailing by three, Tariq Owens sprinted
to the paint and with great length and a well timed leap blocked what looked to
be a sure layup by Pirate freshman Myles
Powell. Then as St. John's moved the ball quickly in transition he made a rim
run that was just as perfectly timed and slammed home a Marcus LoVett miss. The
play brought the St. John's crowd to life and even though Seton Hall still had
a one point margin, coach Kevin Willard called a time out, perhaps sensing the momentum had changed right there.
What
followed was another block, this time by Bashir Ahmed, who followed with a
triple on a pretty drive and kick pass from Shamorie Ponds. On St. John's next possession Ponds came off
a screen and drilled a triple of his own. By the time the half had ended St.
John's had finished off a 20-6 run and had a firm handle on their 6th Big East
win of the season.
The block
and follow slam was the best sequence in a terrific game that saw him finish
with 12 points 10 points 12 boards and 4 blocks. While St. John's was again
outrebounded by Seton Hall 46-34, the game stood in direct contrast to the
Pirates' January 22nd win at the Prudential Center. In that game St. John's was
dominated as a team in the paint and individually by Pirates' center Angel
Delgado, who posted 21 points and 20 boards in that win. This time the numbers
were still good (13 and 10) but clearly nowhere near the dominant effort he'd had at home. While Owens' ability to attack
and defend the rim was the biggest key to the win, others made key
contributions to a battle well fought and ultimately won by St. John's in the
paint. Kassoum Yakwe's game was statistically quiet but he provided good
initial defense on Delgado and allowed St. John's to mix their strategy;
sometimes double teaming him with a second big while sending a guard down to rake his dribble
on other post touches.
Between
them, Ponds and LoVett made just one three pointer but they drove the paint for
17 and 19 points respectively. Nearly all came on drives to the basket and
pretty in traffic finishes from the pair of lefties. It should be noted that
LoVett's effort came off the bench as coach Mullin started both Yakwe and
Owens. The move was particularly risky in this game since reserve big man Darien Williams missed the game with a reported foot injury. It paid off as
the two bigs played effectively and got some assistance from an unexpected
source. Amar Alibegovic had 7 points, a rebound and, yes, a blocked shot in 13
very important minutes.
The
Pirates committed 18 turnovers which St. John's turned into 30 points. The loss
came after two straight overtime wins. The Pirates were missing starting
forward Ismael Sanogo due to an ankle injury but got a terrific 11 point 12
rebound effort from Michael Nzei who started in his place. St. John's
visits Hinkle Field House on Wednesday
for a matchup against Butler.
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