Curbelo Takes MVP honors, Leads St. John's to Empire Classic Title in OT over Syracuse

 

   David Jones’ pull up jumper from the right side 2:11 left in the extra session gave St. John’s the lead for good at 69-67.  Syracuse’s Joe Girard, perhaps fatigued from being chased by a diligent Red Storm defense missed the front end of a one and one.  At that point Posh Alexander and Andre Curbelo, the two point guards that many worried might not be able to work together combined in a way that even the most optimistic Johnnies’ fan might not have imagined.

   Curbelo initiated the set play against the Syracuse zone. Posh set a screen for him at the right elbow. When Curbelo passed him the ball he quickly shifted a pass to Joel Soriano, who tried to power in a dunk and missed. For one of the few times in the game and at the rim a Syracuse defender was called for a foul. Soriano’s first free throw crawled over the rim and gave the Johnnies a 3-point lead. He calmly swished the next one, pushing the lead to 4 with 1:27 left. Curbelo then stole a Syracuse pass and then scored on a goaltending call. After ‘Cuse’s Jesse Edwards scored in the lane it was up to Curbelo to cap his MVP performance. Dribbling to the foul circle, probing a now extended zone defense. He found Jones again for a triple that affectively ended the ballgame, provided the final margin of victory (76-69) and gave St. John’s the Empire Classic Tournament Championship in a game that was held at new venue (Barclay’s Center) but had the feel of an old-fashioned Big East slug fest played at MSG or the Carrier Dome.

     St. John’s opened the game determined to make Joe Girard work for every point. They had, after all, watched him torch Richmond for 31 points in the Orange’s opening round win. While that strategy worked thanks to Posh Alexander, Montez Mathis and Dylan Adde-Wusu’s sharing the task, the Orange found scoring elsewhere, primarily in the person of freshman guard Judah Mintz who scored 16 of his team high 20 points in the opening half.

   Even when the Johnnies tried to get some traction in the first half, they seemingly sabotaged the effort. After Curbelo connected on a deep triple to cut what had been an 11-point deficit to 3 with six seconds left. Mintz took a quick pass from talented sophomore Benny Williams who converted a 3-point play to give the Orange a six point margin.

   Syracuse briefly bumped their margin back to 10 points when Girardi connected on a long 2-pointer on what may have been his only clean look of the game.  To their credit St. John’ kept coming. After Curbelo and Syracuse’s Chris Bell traded triples to make the score 50-40 with 15:08 left in the game the Johnnies went on 16-2 run. Jones gave them their first lead of the 2^nd-half when he followed in his own miss and completed a 3-point play with 9:28 left. A moment later Mathis connected on two free throws to complete the run and give the Red Storm a 56-52 lead. The Johnnies led by 65-61 after a bucket by Curbelo 2:39 left in regulation. After that senior center Jesse Williams scored four straight points on two free throws and a post-up. With the game tied at 65 the Johnnies forced a tough shot from Symir Torrence to force the extra 5 minutes. Both teams turned the ball over on their first possession of OT and that set the stage for the Johnnies. Jones and Curbelo provided the offensive spark while Adde-Wusu, whom coach Anderson subbed in for Mathis because he “wanted someone with fresh legs” to guard Girardi provided the defensive effort. “I like gritty”, Anderson said when asked to asses his team’s potential after the game. He got plenty of that from Adde-Wusu and the rest of his charges and they earned a terrific in season tournament win against an old but still hated rival.

 

Notes And Observations: Curbelo finished his MVP effort with a career high 23 points on 9-13 shooting that included a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. Jones and Soriano each had double doubles.  Jones had 19 points and 13 rebounds while Soriano added 18 and a career high 14 rebounds. Posh Alexander’s modest numbers (7 points and 4 boards in 44 minutes) should not diminish in anyone’s eyes how well he’s playing. He did a terrific defensive job on Mintz in the 2^nd half but continued to set up easy baskets for his teammates (5 assists). He demonstrates the ability to see plays develop no matter where he’s positioned in the offense. That ability will help the process of two dynamic and ball dominant point guards learning to play well together. Last but not least an observation about starters playing heavy minutes.  Curbelo played 40, Jones all 45, and Posh 44. I think that was done primarily because of the importance of the games with respect to rankings and a possible at-large tournament bid. I suspect the staff will go back to trying to develop the bench in these next few games. If they can succeed even a little bit the Johnnies may have some more options when they need them most.