Mustapha Heron
scored 13 of his game high 18 points to help propel St. John’s to a dominant first
half as they cruised past Wagner 86-63 at Carnesecca Arena Saturday afternoon. Perhaps the single best of many good things
for St. John’s in the win was that none of the rust that a team typically occurs
when a team has 6 days off was in evidence in the opening 20 minutes. The ball
and player movement on offense was crisp, the activity on defense was sustained
from start to finish and finally, led by Heron’s 5-7 from the floor, St. John’s
shot 45.9% from the floor compared to 26.1% for the Seahawks in the first 20 mintes.
“We held Wagner to
19 points in the first half that’s pretty good defense,” Coach Mike Anderson
said smiling. “We had 13 assists on so many (17) buckets. That means we shared the basketball. It was a
good team win on to the next”, he added.
St. John’s effort
in the opening stanza included two scoring runs one of 8-0 in the game’s opening
moments and another of 13-0 where they held Wagner scoreless over a 5-minute
stretch and extended their margin to 20 for the first time in the game.
While Heron helped
trigger a hot shooting start, St. John’s other main scoring threat, LJ Figueroa
eschewed a cold shooting hand to help his team in many different ways.
“I thought he had his finger prints all over that first half”,
Anderson said of his versatile 6’6” forward. “He was getting the ball down to Mustapha for
a layup or gets it to Nick (Rutherford) so he can make the next pass I thought
he was all over the place and that’s what I’m looking for. When the shot is not
going down how do you impact the team”.
Wagner trailed by
as many as 28 points but were able to take advantage of some sloppiness by St.
John’s to pull to within 54-35 with six minutes remaining in the game but could
get no closer. Leave it to Anderson to point out a teachable moment. “It’s
something we have to do better”, he said succinctly, “playing with a lead”.
Heron’s 18 points
led 4 Johnnies in double figures scoring. Rasheem Dunn finished with 14 points
including a pair of triples. Julian Champagnie continued to be as steady as she
goes with 12 points on 5-8 shooting and 4 steals while Josh Roberts knocked on
the door of a double double with 12 points and 9 boards. He also had a put back
slam in the first half that helped raise and sustain the energy level of the
crowd. With the win St. John’s raised its record to 6-2 on the season. They will
play St. Peter’s next on Tuesday at 6:30pm at Carnesecca Arena.
Notes And Observations: A continuing area of growth
for this team is the development of the bench. In addition to Dunn’s play St.
John’s continued to get production from Marcellus Earlington (9 points & 4 boards)
and will add a potential inside scoring threat when Ian Steere becomes eligible
for the December 12 game against Albany.
Amongst those in attendance at the game were Maryland lacrosse commit
Mike O’Connell, the brother of St. John’s grad transfer Tom O’Connell. Mike brought
along his Blair Academy basketball teammate Kyle Cuffe Jr., a terrific
all-purpose guard in the class of 2022 and the son of Kyle Cuffe who played for
St. John’s from 2001 to 2004.
👍🏻
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