St. John's Loses Big East Opener And Maybe More as Ponds is Injured

                Providence had begun to pull away with a flurry of three-point shots against a St. John’s defense that had been good in non-conference play. They could not contain the penetration of Kyron Cartwright, who finished the game with 15 assists in addition to a game-high 21 points. His passing and the three-point marksmanship of he and his teammates triggered an 11-0 run for the Friars and helped them salt away what would ultimately be a 94-72 win in the Big East opener for both teams last night.  The loss was a difficult one but it could be the least of St. John’s problems as they move into the grind of conference play.

                Shamorie Ponds the Red Storm’s do-everything point guard was injured early in the second half. He attempted to play through the injury but struggled before sitting out the final nine minutes of the loss. Without him and Marcus Lovett, who missed his sixth straight game with a knee injury of his own, St. John’s offense sputtered, laying a goose egg from three-point land on all 10 tries in the second half. Providence converted on 11 of 16 threes and while the “points in transition” statistic may have been even, much of the Friars success from beyond the arc came on secondary transition where one swing of the ball lead to open looks.  As Chris Mullin lamented “…. we’ve been good (on defense) all year, tonight we were horrendous”.

                Lead by senior guard Cartwright, the Friars new exactly what to do to take full advantage. He was one of four double figure scorers for Providence as fellow senior Jalen Lindsey scored 18 points making 6 of 10 three-point tries while former Frederick Douglas Academy standout Alpha Diallo had a double-double of his own with 18 points and 12 boards.

                Ponds had put up a game’s worth of stats during the first 20 minutes, scoring 14 of his 16 points while finishing with 6 assists and 3 steals. Despite a strong effort St. John’s trailed 41-40 at the half as Providence’s depth with both playing numbers and scoring options was tough for St. John’s to handle. Marvin Clark scored a team-high 20 points for the Johnnies but they simply could never gain traction first with Ponds struggling and then with him out of the lineup. St. John’s will have to flush to move on from this quickly to get ready for Sunday’s game at Seton Hall, but for now Johnnie Nation holds its collective breath waiting for news on Ponds that may well determine the fate of their season. According to multiple reports an initial diagnosis revealed no structural damage to Ponds’ knee but he will reportedly undergo a what is being described as a precautionary MRI today.