In his belated
season debut, Julian Champagne scored a career-high 29 points and added 10
rebounds. St. John’s led by as many as 20 points but needed a late defensive
play from Champagne to preserve a 97-93 win over Boston College in the bubble
at Mohegan.
St. John’s roared
back after the Eagles established an early 19-9 advantage. Posh Alexander, who
scored 16 of his 18 points in the opening stanza on perfect 6-6 shooting,
combined with Champagne to provide productive and efficient offense. St. John’s
pressure defense and transition game were on full display and Alexander, in
addition to showing a great scoring touch, had 5 assists and just one turnover.
With
the Johnnies leading 52-40 at the intermission the two teams traded hoops to
start the second half. Then, a terrific sequence by Greg Williams Jr. propelled
St. John’s to an 8-0 run and a 75-55 advantage with just over 13 minutes left.
Williams’ terrific work included an alert flip pass to Dylan Adde-Wusu for a
triple followed by a powerful slam off a feed from Marcellus Earlington which
put the exclamation point on the spurt.
Leading by 20 it
appeared St. John’s might have taken their foot off the gas a bit. Coach Mike
Anderson described it as “playing not to lose” but the result was that BC took
advantage of the opening with a 14-0 run of their own that the lead to just 6
points.
Adde-Wusu helped
St. John’s regain their footing when he stopped the rally with an assist to
Champagne for a layup. St. John’s pushed the margin to double digits before
momentum turned again. A 10-1 run by Boston College in the game’s closing
moments, fueled in part by 5 St. John’s turnovers in 6 possessions brought them
to within 3 points. Even the normally reliable Champagne was bitten by the
turnover bug as a miscommunication on an inbounds pass between him and
Alexander gave the Eagles a chance to tie the game. On that final possession, St. John’s defended a double screen
and a pass to BC’s Wynston Tabb. He missed a corner trey and then had a follow
shot blocked by Champagne, who picked up the loose ball and threw it ahead to
reserve guard John McGriff who converted the first of two free throws to give
St. John’s the 4-point margin that salted the game away. McGriff played just 3
minutes but made a key contribution in the game’s closing moments. The decision
by Coach Anderson to sub him in for center Arnaldo Toro worked perfectly on BC’s
last two possessions. Not only did McGriff provide terrific defense on the ball
but the lineup put Champagne in position to hedge after guarding one of the
screeners. Add to that his clutch free throw and his small but essential
contribution to a big win cannot be overlooked.
Notes and Observations:
Along with the terrific work by Champagne and Alexander, Greg Williams filled
the stat sheet with 17 points 6 assists, and 2 steals. He also filled in admirably taking the minutes
that normally belong to Rasheem Dunn playing point guard when Posh Alexander
needs a breather. Adde-Wusu tied Williams for team-high honors in assists while
scoring 9 points of his own. Champagne’s 29 points came on 11-20 shooting, 2-5 from
distance, and a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe.
The Johnnies will remain in the bubble to
face BYU tomorrow at 5 pm; a game that replaces the canceled game against Texas
Tech
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