St. John's Surges Past Columbia

      

      Whether coach Mike Anderson and his St. John’s team found themselves trying to gain traction after a tough loss to Vermont last Saturday, or gain some momentum as they get ready for a road test against the Arizona State team that knocked them out of last year’s N.C.A.A. Tournament, it’s likely they got exactly what they needed last night.

     “Our guys came out with a sense of urgency and we kept that sense of urgency throughout the game”, Anderson said of his team’s 82-63 win over Columbia at Carnesecca Arena last night. “Guys came off the bench to give us some quality minutes.  It was a good team win we did a much better job taking care of the basketball.”

   Two first half runs, one of 11-0 and the other of 8-0 proved to be decisive for St. John’s.  They took a 25-7 lead at the end of the second run and were able to push the margin to 49-27 at the intermission. Rasheem Dunn scored all of his 14 points in the first half after coming off the bench.

“To me he’s a starter”, Anderson said of Dunn. “It’s not about starting it’s about getting quality minutes and what you do with those minutes. And you can see how Rasheem impacts our team. He’s a threat on offense and he’s tenacious on defense. And he’s a team player”

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      Dunn’s impact on the game did not stop when his scoring ended. He added 3 rebounds, a team high 3 assists and 3 steals. One of the assists came during a stretch early in the second half when freshman and fellow Brooklynite Julian Champagnie helped St. John’s regain their footing after Columbia went on 11-4 run as the second half began. With St. John’s lead trimmed to 15 points Champagnie scored 9 straight points to push the lead up to 24. The run included his only 3 pointer of the game and a nice transition basket set up by an over-the-shoulder flip from Dunn.

                St. John’s would finish the game with its most balanced stat sheet of the young season. Mustapha Heron would lead the way with 15 points with Dunn and Champagnie each adding 14. LJ Figueroa and David Caraher added 9 each. And as they have all season long, sophomores Josh Roberts and Marcellus Earlington provided needed energy and physicality off the bench. Roberts finished with 11 rebounds and 3 blocks while Earlington had 8 points and 8 boards.”

   “This team is growing right before our eyes”, Anderson said as he assessed the team’s progress, “Guys are starting to figure out what it takes to compete at this level and they’re starting to figure out they’re not just a two man team.”
  

   According to Heron, the new coach told the team that while some of them lost to Arizona State to end last season, this was “a new year and a new mindset”. Clearly Anderson and his staff have set a tone that the team has embraced. A win on Saturday would be a terrific step forward for the Johnnies and perhaps start them towards a return visit to the Big Dance.

Notes And Observations: Tonight, there’s just one and it’s a nod of appreciation for the great effort given by Columbia’s senior guard Mike Smith. The Illinois native finished with a game high 20 points as well as 9 rebounds and 6 assists combined with just 1 turnover in 37 minutes. On enemy territory playing against relentless pressure he played with poise and confidence. Even though he played fast he never got sped up. Here’s wishing him good luck for the rest of the season.                                  

Lamb's Clutch Shot Thwarts Late Rally by St. John's 70-68

     Rochester native Anthony Lamb pulled up and hit a foul line jumper with 2.4 seconds remaining and gave Vermont, the America East Conference’s defending champion and pre-season favorite, a hard fought 70-68 win over St. John’s at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday.

    Lamb’s basket put the finishing touch on a terrific second half in which he scored 19 of his game high 23 points. It also thwarted a furious 13-4 rally by St. John’s that culminated in consecutive three-point baskets that tied the game at 68 with 19 seconds remaining. After Mustapha Heron hit the first of those triples to bring the Johnnies to within 66-65. After Vermont’s Everett Duncan made two free throws to push the lead to 3   Rasheem Dunn, playing in his first game after a protracted and publicized battle with the NCAA over his eligibility, used a ball screen, pulled up and hit an off the dribble three to tie the game at 68 for St. John’s.  Vermont then handled the final possession like the veteran team and conference champions they are. Lamb took an inbounds pass, used a hard right hand dribble to get to the key, rose up just before L.J. Figueroa closed with an attempted double team, and swished the game winning jumper.

     ‘For people who haven’t seen Anthony play before that’s who he is he’s an incredible player”, Vermont coach John Becker said of Lamb. “He made a huge shot to win the game and I’m really proud of him”.

   Lamb’s late game heroics, and the game winning shot came in a game where neither team could gain much traction offensively. St. John’s shot a season low 34.5% from the floor for the game that included 5-19 from beyond the arc Combine that with 16 turnovers and 12 missed free throws and it’s surprising that St. John’s was able to rally to tie the game in the closing moments.

  St. John’s used a late rally to take a 31-26 lead at the intermission. Dunn put the capper on the rally with a pull up two-point jumper in the closing seconds of the half for the first field goal of his St. John’s career. Dunn entered the game with just under 14 minutes remaining in the first half and showed some early rust. He would finish the game with 13 points, including his game tying three in the second half and 4 makes on 6 free throws.

  Vermont erased that first half margin quickly and the two teams traded baskets until just over 9 minutes remaining. Vermont led 45-44 and went on an 11-2 run to seemingly take command of the game. A long trey by Figueroa helped St. John’s regain a bit of momentum and the two teams traded baskets until the run that lead to Dunn’s game-tying triple and, unfortunately for St. John’s fans, who provided good energy from start to finish, set the stage for Lamb’s game winning shot.

Notes and Observations: Both teams shot under 30% from beyond the arc but it may be worth noting that the success Vermont had from that distance seemed to come from what are referred to as “baseline draw baseline drift” sequences that result in the shortest of 3-point shots; the one’s from the corners. Several times St. John’s got caught converging on a driver and leaving a shooter open. I get that for players it’s an old hard habit to break when one is taught to help out since 3^rd grade but they’re defensive effort seems to include giving up a couple of those in every game.

   In the second half Vermont found lots of scoring chances inside the arc, connecting for a 52.9% cli at the rim and in the middle.

    For St. John’s it’s worth noting that Dunn played many of his 33 minutes at point guard and committed just one turnover while adding 2 assists to go with his 13 points Heron and Figueroa tied for team high scoring honors with 14 points apiece but they shot a combined 7-24 from the floor. Finally, the Johnnies trio of young forwards, sophomores Marcellus Earlington and Josh Roberts along with freshman Julian Champagnie each put together solid outings as they have all season long. Roberts finished with 9 points and tied Lamb for game-high rebounding honors with 13 caroms.  Champagnie finished with 9 points of his own and 6 boards while Earlington added 8 points and 7 boards.

   St. John’s will try to get back on the winning track Wednesday at 7pm when they face Columbia at Carnesecca Arena.

Figueroa And St. John's Start Slowly but Finish Strong for Third Straight Win

    St. John’s used a late 12-0 run to extend a 3-point margin to 15 and break open what had been a perilously close game against America East Conference rival New Hampshire. The Red Storm’s final margin of victory, 74-61 is simply not indicative of how close the game was, how well New Hampshire played or the obstacles St. John’s had to battle to get the win.

   Trailing 8-7 early in the game’s opening moments New Hampshire used an 11-0 run to grab an early edge and lead by as many as 12 in the first half. They extended their first half margin to as many as 12 points behind a trio of outstanding forwards; Shane Sufferin, Chris Lester and Nick Guadarama, who, along with reserve guard Mark Carbone, each connected from deep and were strong with the ball against St. John’s pressure.

    “I thought they took the fight to us…and were a little more physical than we were in the first half”, coach Mike Anderson said. Adding to St. John’s struggles was a scoreless first half from Mustapha Heron, who was saddled with 2 early fouls and may well have been a bit tentative when he re-entered the game.  LJ Figueroa, the Johnnies second leading scorer was having his own struggles, including at one point a hat trick of misses from the free throw line. He finished the first half with 12 points but did not connect on his first basket until a bit over 7:30 remaining in the first half. Combine those factors with 9 first half turnovers for the Johnnies and it’s remarkable that they took a 36-34 lead into the intermission when Marcellus Earlington followed in a Figueroa miss.

     Figueroa finding the range from deep was key to St. John’s first half rally and the win. He finished with a career high-tying 25 points and 8 rebounds and 5 steals but while St. John’s struggled at times to find scoring options to offset Heron’s uncharacteristically poor shooting night, they found them in several different ways. Included in David Caraher’s 9 off the bench were six points scored on a three-point shot and a hoop and harm 3-point play that kept St. John’s within hailing distance as New Hampshire surged to an early lead. Josh Roberts, as a starter, and Earlington in a reserve role found ways to score making energy plays to score. Roberts finished with 12 points 7 rebounds and 4 blocks while Earlington had 8 points and 4 boards.

   Each of those elements helped St. John’s regain their footing in the second half but they lead by just 3 points with six minutes left when the game deciding spurt came about. Figueroa provided 5 of the 12 points in the run while freshman Julian Champagnie provided the other 7 and punctuated the rally with a hoop and harm slam dunk after Figueroa tapped his own free throw miss in his direction with just over 4:30 left in the game.

    “To our guys credit we got down double digits but the game is 40 minutes long…I thought Marcellus (Earlington) David (Caraher) and Greg (Williams) that bunch came in and became a blue collar team and enabled us to do the things we needed to do to get back in the game”.

Ultimately, his team’s blue collar approach did much more than get them back in it. It enabled them to grind out a win despite just 5 points from Heron. It also likely gave them a glimpse of what they might need to beat the America East’s defending champion and pre-season favorite Vermont on Saturday.

Good Thoughts and Prayers for Nick Johnson: This is usually where I put “Notes and Observations” but for this recap I’d like to remember one of New York’s own Nick Johnson; who was the CHSAA’s “A” division player of the year last year for All Hallows High School and coach Marvin McCullough. He is now red-shirting at New Hampshire following a torn ACL he reportedly suffered during summer workouts. Recovery and rehab can be a lonely road but all of us who know Nick through basketball are no doubt with him in spirit wishing him a full and speedy recovery.

Heron Lifts St. John's Past Central Connecticut 87-57

            As the buzzer sounded St. John’s, and coach Mike Anderson, had their second consecutive 30-point win; this one an 87-57 win over Northeast Conference foe Central Connecticut State. They used a 20-0 run early in the second half to salt the game away, and as they had on Wednesday, moved the ball on offense and used pressure defense to secure an impressive win.

   For much of the first half, the game did was nothing like the blowout it became. St. John’s got off to a 13-4 start as Mustapha Heron scored their first 9 points. But while St. John’s struggled to find additional scoring, the young team from C.C.S.U., which features 10 players starting their first season for coach Donyell Marshall, found a nice rhythm. Senior Jamir Coleman combined with a pair of Chicago-area freshmen, Greg Outlaw and Myles Baker to help the Blue Devils gain their offensive footing. They briefly took the lead at 18-17 when Outlaw flipped a pass to Stephane Ayangma for a layup. St. John’s took the lead back for good on a layup by Heron, but because Heron was the only one making shots early the Johnnies could not extend their lead.
  

     That said Heron’s performance in the opening 20 minutes and throughout the game was nothing short of spectacular. He scored 19 of his 30 points in the opening 20 minutes while his teammates struggled to find the range. LJ Figueroa, who would come on strong in the second half, needed a late trey to finish the first stanza with 8 points. Freshman forward, Julian Champangie also endured early shooting struggles before he took a pass in the key from Greg Williams and converted a short jumper late in the half.  Fortunately for those two players and for St. John’s both shots were a portent of better things in the second half.

    With the Johnnies leading 39-33, Coleman took a pass from Jamir Reed and connected on a left corner triple to slice the deficit in half for Central. From there the game took a dramatic turn in St. John’s favor. A pair of baskets by Champangie and a steal and dunk by Heron began what would be a 20-0 run for the Johnnies that effectively salted the game away. Figueroa would connect on 4 of his 5 three pointers on the way to 17 points. And with point guard Nick Rutherford saddled with foul trouble would finish with a team high 6 assists.  Champangie finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds while center Josh Roberts protected the rim with 4 blocks.

    “It was a tale of two halves”, Anderson said, “The first half we didn’t shoot the ball well, in the second our defense picked up and we made some shots”.
  

        Heron’s 30 points came on 10-15 shooting from the floor and included 6-7 from beyond the arc. “He’s got a good basketball IQ and embraces wanting to be a leader” Anderson said of his star pupil and senior leader who kick started the offense when it wasn’t quite clicking.  Heron showed a different kind of leadership last season as he played through a nagging knee injury. If he can stay healthy this season, St. John’s fans and their new coach will see a special player.

Notes and Observations: Central Connecticut’s first half performance was impressive in this respect they committed just 5 of their 21 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. Senior Coleman and freshman Outlaw shared team high scoring honors for the Blue Devils with 11 points apiece. The 10 first year players for the Blue Devils included freshman forward Xavier Wilson, who was a 2017-18 CHSAA champion for Archbishop Stepinac before prepping at the Hotchkiss School (CT) last season. He finished with 5 points 2 boards and 2 blocked shots.

Anderson's Debut Brings Impressive Win for St. John's

Leave it to a veteran coach, Mike Anderson and a veteran player, Mustapha Heron, to lend some perspective to a 30-point season opening win.
   

“It took a lot of preparation and hard work for us to get here”, Anderson said following his team’s 109-79 trouncing of Mercer at Carnesecca Arena last night, but he added quickly that “….there’s still lots of work to do”.

    Moments earlier senior leader Heron expressed similar thoughts noting that Anderson’s quickly paced style was both “hard to play” and “a lot of fun”.  As opening nights go this was indeed lots of fun.

    The guys who figure to lead the way for the Johnnies this season, Heron and junior forward L.J. Figueroa did just that, scoring 25 and 18 points respectively. They combined with Graduate transfer Nick Rutherford put an early stamp on the game and, with the help of a couple of surprises, maintain and extend the 21-point half time margin they built.

   A pair of sophomores who barely played last season, center Josh Roberts and forward Marcellus Earlington, were able to build on strong pre-seasons. Roberts finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks while he played his role as a rim running, screening and rolling, and in his words, “dump off catching” center to perfection.

   Earlington provided the biggest surprise of the game after appearing in just 15 games last season, averaging a shade less than 4 minutes per contest and making his high school reputation playing football not basketball for perennial New Jersey power Don Bosco Prep.  Statistics tell this part of the game story to be sure, 17 points on 7-13 shooting and 5 rebounds, but the eye test matters here also. Not only did he bring the energy and hustle a fan might expect from an athlete who was a high end football recruit, but, for lack of a better phrase, he looked like a basketball player; moving without the ball, catching the ball in shooting position on both his 3-point tries, and scoring an early field goal with a strong right handed drive followed by a lefthanded finish.

   As both Anderson and Heron noted the play of Earlington and Roberts along with fellow sophomore Greg Williams is important to watch as the team tries to build depth for the basketball gauntlet that is the Big East Conference.

   The tests that the rest of the schedule brings will be difficult, and are the reason why coach Anderson sprinkled praise for his team’s effort and execution with caution. It was certainly a good beginning; one fans hope they can build on.

Notes And Observations: Former St. Francis College and Jefferson High guard Rasheem Dunn remained out while the NCAA continues to determine his eligibility status, which for now is on appeal following a ruling that would force him to lose a year of playing eligibility and leave him with only one year remaining. If I may do a bit of editorializing here the NCAA is essentially holding a kid who’s done everything right out of games because an athletic director who fired the coach who recruited him refuses to support his transfer. Instead of penalizing the young man, let’s hope the NCAA holds the adults responsible and gets this right. N.C. State transfer Ian Steere continued to sit out following last year’s mid-season transfer to St. John’s. He reportedly will sit out 11 games.

    A word of thanks to the sports information department at St. John’s for offering an N.B.A. style box score, complete with plus minus stats, hustle stats that note blocks and steals and statistics for “fouls drawn” and “blocks against”. Thank you and well done.   .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Georgetown Deals Johnnies' Tourney Hopes a Big Blow 89-78

        St. John’s NCAA tournament hopes received another crippling blow yesterday at the hands of both a familiar nemesis and a new one.  The familiar nemesis was the Georgetown Hoyas, now coached by the archest of arch-enemies to St. John’s fans Patrick Ewing. No doubt many in the crowd of 17,000+ who came to MSG remembered the best days for the Big East and the two programs, heard the buzz generated by St. John’s now distant 12-0 start and were both hopeful and curious. What they got was a disappointing 89-78 loss to their old rivals, Georgetown and Ewing, and found out that the Hoyas had a new thorn in St. John’s side, freshman point guard Matt McClung.

     To their credit, Georgetown got out of the gate quickly with the combination of McClung and former Wings Academy center Jesse Govan. They helped the Hoyas maintain the lead for all but very brief portions of each half and the crowd which was mostly a St. John’s crowd stayed quiet. What McClung and Govan did to great efficacy from start to finish was exploit mismatches created by St. John’s switching against either Govan’s size or McClung’s quick driving ability. McClung, who was injured for his team’s 97-94 loss to St. John’s on January 5^th had a game high 25 points for the Hoyas while Govan added 20. As a team the Hoyas shot 13-27 from three-point land in large part because the good work done by their center/guard combination put St. John’s defense in constant help and scramble mode and players such as freshman Josh LeBlanc (15 Points) and sophomore Jamorko Pickett (9 points) made key plays with the help of good ball movement or by attacking the glass.

  Georgetown took a 41-37 advantage into the intermission. And while the Hoyas played well in garnering that edge, St. John’s wing Mustapha Heron suggested that his team may have been “going through the motions” in the first 20 minutes. It’s fair to say that St. John’s lethargy extended into the second half as well since Georgetown was able to extend that halftime margin. And that lead to a series of coaching decisions that likely cost St. John’s dearly as they tried to make a final push.

    The series of coaching decisions came in the form of 3 St. John’s time outs. The first came as Georgetown pushed their margin to 55-50 with just over 15 minutes left. The second and third came after the Hoyas had extended their margin to 10 points and the last came with 8:49 seconds still to be played and left the Johnnies with no time outs for the balance of the game.

   It’s very likely that at the moment each of those last time outs were, they stopped the proverbial bleeding. But the early use of those time outs meant the Johnnies didn’t have them for the final possessions when they were sorely needed.

                Beginning with 1:49 left in the game, two free throws and a layup by Shamorie Ponds brought St. John’s to within 79-77. A flurry of defensive pressure and turnovers, and one replay reversal that gave St. John’s the ball with chances to tie the game. But on one possession Ponds’ without a time out through the ball away. The second, that came off a deflection and steal by LJ Figueroa resulted in a heartbreaking sequence for St. John’s that came about again in part because they had no time outs left. Figueroa began it with a long and quick three-pointer that he took without setting his feet, once again with no time outs left to set up a play for a good shot. A flurry of tip tries followed, all missed and, perhaps fittingly, it was left Mac McClung to get the rebound and take the last breath of air from a St. John’s comeback try with a drive and dunk.

   The loss was St. John’s 5^th in 8 Big East games and their 3^rd in 4 tries. After a three-game road trip that begins Tuesday at Creighton and includes visits to Duke and Marquette, the Johnnies may now simply not have enough chances to play themselves back into the NCAA tournament field. A season that began with such bright promise has seen that promise fade quickly. And with this loss, they may have seen the tournament bid St. John’s fans want so badly for their team and their coach, slip from their team’s grasp.

   

Clippers Start Big Week with Tough Win Vs. Terrieres

     As yesterday’s game between St. Francis Prep and Xaverian came down to the final moments, an otherwise stellar defensive sequence for the Clippers was marred by a foul that came on a deflected inbounds pass. With Xaverian leading by what would be the final margin, 60-58, St. Francis missed the first of two attempts. On the second try they were called for a lane violation and with .4 seconds left the Clippers successfully inbounded the ball and the clock expired.  As they have for much of this season, the Clippers found a way to win a close game; this one over an improving Prep squad that may prove to be a tough out in the playoffs.

     The two teams played within a tight margin from start to finish, with neither team able to build a lead of more than 5 points. And while each team had several players make key contributions, a pair of young players lead the way for their teams. Sophomore guard Nick Folk of Xaverian and junior guard Anthony Lopez Jr. tied for game high scoring honors with 16 points. Of greater significance for both their teams and their individual development is that they each showed the ability to do more than just score the ball. For St. Francis Lopez, who established his reputation as a scorer last season as a varsity sophomore, essentially played point guard for this season’s terriers, and with very few exceptions made good decisions about when to call his own number and when to get his teammates involved. Seniors Justin Hendrick, Daniel Campbell and Aramis Santiago along with sophomore lefty Todd Rochelle each contributed key baskets and made defensive plays throughout the game and gave the terriers a 1-point lead at the intermission.

                For Xaverian the most impressive thing about Folk’s game was how complete it was. Like Lopez last season, he has established his reputation as a shooter in this his first varsity season. Yesterday his playmaking and defense were also key in helping the Clippers stay close after a slow-shooting start, and he helped them take a third quarter lead with two terrific passing plays, one where he hit senior guard Isaiah Amazan with a pass that led to free throws, and another where he dropped a perfect dime to senior center Michael Graham for a slam dunk.  Amazan and Graham have been steady senior leaders who have brought energy and toughness to Xaverian’s defense all season long and in this game Graham’s ability to protect the rim and Amazan’s terrific defense on both Lopez and Hendricks at key points in the game was vital to what would ultimately be a winning effort.

    For Xaverian, the win yesterday comes at the beginning of a key stretch of the season as they will play home games against Brooklyn-Queens leader Bishop Loughlin on Friday, and Christ the King on Sunday. So far this season, Xaverian has faced every challenger with poise, toughness and trust in each other. Those elements will be vital as they go through this week’s gauntlet of games and come down the stretch of the season.