St. John's Suffers Crucial Loss to Creighton 81-78

 

    Poor execution down the stretch and uncharacteristically poor shooting games from forwards Julian Champagnie and Aaron Wheeler cost St. John’s dearly as they squandered another chance at an elusive quad one win, losing for just the second time at Carnesecca Arena 81-78 to Creighton last night.

     The Johnnies had rallied from a 75-71 deficit, scoring five straight points when reserve center Esahia Nyiwe connected on a 3-pointer off a steal and pass from Dylan Adde-Wusu and a moment later Montez Mathis hit a 2-pointer off another steal and pass, this one from Posh Alexander. They took the lead 76-75 with 3:16 left to play.

  After that, St. John’s faltered and Creighton took full advantage. Mathis missed a free throw following the hoop and harm and St. John’s lead 76-75. Creighton’s Arthur Kamula connected on a jumper and Creighton retook the lead. Following a Mathis miss Creighton’s Ryan Hawkins followed in a Ryan Kalkbrenner miss to give the Blue Jays a three-point margin. Adde-Wusu would convert an offensive rebound for the Johnnies’ last two points but following a pair of Kalkbrenner free throws that gave Creighton their final margin Adde-Wusu made an errant pass to Aaron Wheeler with 5 seconds left. After that St. John’s still had a final chance. Following a missed one-and-one front end by Alex O’Connell, Wheeler took the rebound, pushed it quickly and got a good look at a game tying triple. The ball bounced off the board and rim, and Creighton had a well-earned road win.

   The Blue Jays got that win thanks to a dominant effort by their front court stars Hawkins and Kalkbrenner. They combined for 44 points on 18-31 shooting as well as 14 rebounds. Kalkbrenner’s 7’1” presence at the rim anchored Creighton’s defense and had much to do with the shooting struggles of Champagnie and Wheeler. They combined to shoot just 4-26 from the floor. While the two Ryan’s were terrific Creighton’s MVP for the game was freshman guard Trey Alexander, who stepped in at point guard after Ryan Nembhard, the likely Big East Rookie of the Year suffered a broken wrist in a collision with Posh Alexander with 12:55 left in the game. Trey’s good work at point guard included game totals of 18 points. 6 assists and 4 turnovers. Most significantly he helped orchestrate a 2^nd half effort that saw Creighton commit just 7 turnovers, after committing 10 in the opening stanza.

   St. John’s nearly overcame all of that to earn a badly needed win. They rallied from a 10-point deficit in the games early moments to take a 46-39 lead at halftime. With Champagnie and Wheeler struggling, and in the absence of improving center Joel Soriano, the Johnnies got 13 points from Mathis and great bench production from Nyiwe and freshman O’mar Stanley. Nyiwe started for Soriano who missed the game with a left knee contusion and contributed 7 points 5 boards and 2 blocks. Stanley who got extra minutes at both forward and center, matched his season high with 14 points and 3 boards.

  With 3 regular season games left St. John’s chances at an at-large NCAA bid suffered a critical blow. While games against Xavier and at Marquette offer chances to gain ground, Sunday’s game at DePaul is one the Johnnies must win just to keep from losing it. St. John’s only remaining path to the big dance may well be a conference tournament win, a herculean task that given the strength of the league will be nearly impossible to accomplish.

 

   

Lions And Clippers Earn 1st Round Diocesan Wins

 

  Bishop Loughlin and Xaverian earned 1^st round wins last night in the Brooklyn-Queens Diocesan tournament at Molloy. Here are my recaps of both games. The numbers next to the teams represent their seeding in this particular tournament. With my travel to games, like everyone else, restricted by COVID, these games, and I hope more in these playoffs, provided a chance to see some talented teams and players in the always competitive CHSAA playoffs. It was also great to see college coaches such as Binghamton’s Lavell Sanders and Fordham assistant Ronald Ramon out looking at high school players after a spring and summer that saw the transfer portal limit scholarship opportunities for high school players. The hope here is that as things slowly return to normal, that will start to change. The Lions and Clippers move on to the Diocesan semi finals on Wednesday at St. Francis Prep.

(3) Bishop Loughlin 88 (6) Holy Cross 83 The Lions held off Holy Cross in a game that saw them lead by double digits several times only to have the Knights rally behind clutch three-point shooting and good execution. The Lions featured a trio of 20+point scorers including senior Jaream Eason who paced them with 28 points. A pair of talented sophomores 6’3” Jakai Sanders and 6’6” Daye Kabba each scored 20 as well. The Lions took a 41-33 lead into halftime as Holy Cross stayed close with the help of senior guard Anthony Russo and junior guard Tyler Castro who helped make the 3-point line an equalizer for the Knights. They combined with senior Devin Grant, who provided finishing ability around the basket to cut the deficit to 4 points before Sanders and senior guard Christion Joe, whose floor game and leadership were outstanding from start to finish, put the finishing touches on a well earned win with free throws. Two more Loughlin youngsters who put up modest numbers yesterday but bear watching for the future are 6’7” junior post player Makhaya Moore and 6’2” sophomore guard Christian Jeffrey, who each provided terrific energy and athleticism. Russo finished with 23 points for Holy Cross while Grant added 20. The Lions move on to face second seeded Christ the King in Wednesday’s Diocesan semi-finals.

(4) Xaverian 69 (5) Molloy 52 The Clippers used a strong 3^rd quarter to push a modest 25-21 halftime advantage to a 50-35 lead as the 4^th quarter began. Michael Walker, a 6’7” junior forward who was saddled with 3 first half fouls came out strong for the Clippers and did a terrific job finishing around the rim playing off of guards Nasir Muhammad and Aaron Goldstein who each worked pick and roll plays with him in the middle of the floor.  Sophomore Nico Pena scored 10 points all in the second half and, while he struggled to find his normally reliable 3-point shooting moved without the ball very well and finished well at the rim. Senior John McCabe, who led Molloy with strong outside shooting and scoring on basket cuts, briefly gave the Stanners a lead when he scored consecutive baskets to open the third period. Xaverian then went on their decisive run behind Walker, Muhammad, Pena and Goldstein. Muhammad and Pena then closed the game with outstanding free throw shooting for the Clippers. Junior forward Emmanuel Ikioda also had a strong game providing inside scoring for the Stanners. The Clippers move on to face top seeded St. Francis Prep in Wednesday’s Diocesan semi-finals