Strong Opening Night Lifts St. John's Past Loyola (MD)

    St. John’s began what they hope will be a long and successful run in the 2018-19 season with an opening that went significantly better than last week’s dress rehearsal.

    “The effort was a lot better”, coach Chris Mullin said of his team’s convincing 76-55 win over Loyola (MD) in a game that featured the St. John’s debuts of seven players, most notably Auburn transfer Mustapha Heron. The wiry strong 6’5” wing did not disappoint. The numbers looked good, 15 points and 7 rebounds, but the eye test looked better perhaps because he and Big East Player of the Year candidate Shamorie Ponds worked so well together.

    Ponds had a terrific all-around game that could be an indication that he’ll be an even better player this year than last even though he’ll likely not be counted on to score as much with the arrivals of Heron and reserve Mikey Dixon who finished with 13 points off the bench.

   While Ponds did indeed finish with a game high 20 points, the rest of the stat line, 9-15 shooting 4 assists combined with just two turnovers, was more efficient than many he posted last season. Combine that with 3 rebounds and three steals and you have a line that indicates a complete player and, perhaps more significantly for the team’s fortunes, one who doesn’t have to force action.

   The Red Storm’s improved energy and effort helped lift them to a quick 9-0 start to open the game. They expanded that to 13 before the Greyhounds were able to gain some footing. They closed the gap to 21-14 before the Johnnies responded and pushed the lead to 19 with a rally capped by a lefty triple from Heron that made the score 37-18. They maintained that margin and then expanded it to 25 with a 6-0 half closing spurt that included an “and one”3-point play from Dixon and a 35-foot buzzer beating triple from Ponds which gave the Red Storm a 48-23 halftime edge from which they never looked back.

    St. John’s will face a tougher test when they meet the Falcons of Bowling Green from the Mid Atlantic Conference (MAC) on Friday at 6:30 pm. For long time fans of local HS hoops the Falcons’ coach is former Adlai Stevenson (BX) star Michael Huger. He is now in his 4^th season coaching his college alma mater.