For a bit over 30 minutes, St. John’s had
played some of its best basketball of the season in what would ultimately be a
79-69 win over St. Peter’s. Effective ball movement and unselfishness to the
tune of 24 assists on their 29 total field goals helped St. John’s establish
and extend an early lead and they looked like a team that was more than ready
for its Madison Square Garden debut on Saturday.
For the first time in several games both Mustapha
Heron and LJ Figueroa were scoring consistently. Combine that with a first career
double double from Julian Champagnie and the Johnnies appeared well on their
way to what looked like an easy win. They
had sprinted to a 28-6 lead early in the game behind a hot shooting start from
Champagnie, whose 8 quick points included a pair of 3-pointers, who combined
with Figueroa and Heron to send St. John’s into the intermission with a 37-23 advantage.
They stretched that margin to 25 points when reserve David Caraher, who played
well again off the bench, connected on a long triple with 8:10 left in the
game.
The Johnnies would eventually secure the
win but it would not come as easily as their performance early in the game
indicated it should have.
Shaheen Holloway’s Peacocks roared back
with a 19-2 spurt beginning with 6:32 left in the game; a rally that was
interrupted only by a quick transition basket by Champagnie. St. Peter’s got
terrific work during the rally from a number of young players who prepped
locally. On the perimeter, freshman Aaron Estrada (St. Benedict’s Prep) was solid
from start to finish and particularly strong in the second half finished the
game with a team high 18 points and added 5 assists with just a single turnover.
Most troublesome for St. John’s coach Mike
Anderson was the damage St. Peter’s was able to do on the offensive glass. While
the overall rebound margin for St. Peter’s was small (44-40) their total
included 23 offensive boards. It’s worth noting that St. Peter’s was well
represented locally in the paint as well as on the perimeter. Freshman brothers
Fousseyni and Hassan Drame who hail from Mali and prepped at Our Savior New
American School on Long Island combined for 13 points and 9 boards while senor
transfer Derrick Woods, a Trenton native who attended Pennsbury High School
finished with 6 points and 7 boards. Though the numbers look modest, coach Anderson described how the impact of those
guys went well beyond the numbers.
“They took
the fight to us at times, Anderson said of St. Peter’s. “From my vantage point we’ve got to learn to
get multiple stops. During that time, they got more aggressive. They started getting to all the loose balls
and hanging around. All of a sudden the ball started bouncing their way…”
The Peacocks run closed St. John’s margin 75-69
with 1:05 left in the game. From there the Johnnies got one of the defensive
stops coach Anderson was looking for. Figueroa then sank 4 free throws to
provide the final margin.
As St. John’s heads into Saturday they know
they must be better at what coach Anderson called “the finishing parts of
basketball”, he said referring to the finishing part of defensive possessions, rebounding.
Part of the test on Saturday will be that Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins’ teams
do those “finishing parts of basketball” as well as any in the country. Time
will tell whether St. John’s is ready not only for their Garden debut,but for
what is surely a step up in basketball weight class as well.
Notes and
Observations: In a
bit of happy coincidence Champagnie’s first career double double (14 points 11 boards)
came with long time Loughlin coach and former St. Peter’s coach Bob Leckie in the
audience. He served as a Lions’ assistant during Julian’s time there and
coached St. Peter’s from 2001-06. With the win St. John’s raised its record to
7-2 while St. Peter’s dropped to 1-4 with the loss.
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