Lamb's Clutch Shot Thwarts Late Rally by St. John's 70-68

     Rochester native Anthony Lamb pulled up and hit a foul line jumper with 2.4 seconds remaining and gave Vermont, the America East Conference’s defending champion and pre-season favorite, a hard fought 70-68 win over St. John’s at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday.

    Lamb’s basket put the finishing touch on a terrific second half in which he scored 19 of his game high 23 points. It also thwarted a furious 13-4 rally by St. John’s that culminated in consecutive three-point baskets that tied the game at 68 with 19 seconds remaining. After Mustapha Heron hit the first of those triples to bring the Johnnies to within 66-65. After Vermont’s Everett Duncan made two free throws to push the lead to 3   Rasheem Dunn, playing in his first game after a protracted and publicized battle with the NCAA over his eligibility, used a ball screen, pulled up and hit an off the dribble three to tie the game at 68 for St. John’s.  Vermont then handled the final possession like the veteran team and conference champions they are. Lamb took an inbounds pass, used a hard right hand dribble to get to the key, rose up just before L.J. Figueroa closed with an attempted double team, and swished the game winning jumper.

     ‘For people who haven’t seen Anthony play before that’s who he is he’s an incredible player”, Vermont coach John Becker said of Lamb. “He made a huge shot to win the game and I’m really proud of him”.

   Lamb’s late game heroics, and the game winning shot came in a game where neither team could gain much traction offensively. St. John’s shot a season low 34.5% from the floor for the game that included 5-19 from beyond the arc Combine that with 16 turnovers and 12 missed free throws and it’s surprising that St. John’s was able to rally to tie the game in the closing moments.

  St. John’s used a late rally to take a 31-26 lead at the intermission. Dunn put the capper on the rally with a pull up two-point jumper in the closing seconds of the half for the first field goal of his St. John’s career. Dunn entered the game with just under 14 minutes remaining in the first half and showed some early rust. He would finish the game with 13 points, including his game tying three in the second half and 4 makes on 6 free throws.

  Vermont erased that first half margin quickly and the two teams traded baskets until just over 9 minutes remaining. Vermont led 45-44 and went on an 11-2 run to seemingly take command of the game. A long trey by Figueroa helped St. John’s regain a bit of momentum and the two teams traded baskets until the run that lead to Dunn’s game-tying triple and, unfortunately for St. John’s fans, who provided good energy from start to finish, set the stage for Lamb’s game winning shot.

Notes and Observations: Both teams shot under 30% from beyond the arc but it may be worth noting that the success Vermont had from that distance seemed to come from what are referred to as “baseline draw baseline drift” sequences that result in the shortest of 3-point shots; the one’s from the corners. Several times St. John’s got caught converging on a driver and leaving a shooter open. I get that for players it’s an old hard habit to break when one is taught to help out since 3^rd grade but they’re defensive effort seems to include giving up a couple of those in every game.

   In the second half Vermont found lots of scoring chances inside the arc, connecting for a 52.9% cli at the rim and in the middle.

    For St. John’s it’s worth noting that Dunn played many of his 33 minutes at point guard and committed just one turnover while adding 2 assists to go with his 13 points Heron and Figueroa tied for team high scoring honors with 14 points apiece but they shot a combined 7-24 from the floor. Finally, the Johnnies trio of young forwards, sophomores Marcellus Earlington and Josh Roberts along with freshman Julian Champagnie each put together solid outings as they have all season long. Roberts finished with 9 points and tied Lamb for game-high rebounding honors with 13 caroms.  Champagnie finished with 9 points of his own and 6 boards while Earlington added 8 points and 7 boards.

   St. John’s will try to get back on the winning track Wednesday at 7pm when they face Columbia at Carnesecca Arena.