Coburn Scores 20 as St. John's Sweeps Xavier

 

    With last night’s 81-66 over Xavier at Carnesecca Arena last night, St, John’s snapped a two-game losing streak. They welcomed back junior center Joel Soriano, who contributed 10 points and 5 boards after missing the two losses with a left knee injury. And they completed a season sweep of the Muskies.

    All of that might well be considered secondary because Tareq Coburn, the graduate transfer from Hofstra who has fashioned one of the best stories in a disappointing season for St. John’s added one more great night to what has been an exemplary career as a student athlete. He led 5 double-figure scorers for St. John’s with 20 points, made 5 of his 7 field goal tries from beyond the arc and tied a career high with 3 blocks. While it was a signature game for him it’s only a small part of a great legacy.

    He is, after all, a player with deep New York City basketball roots. He prepped at Cardozo High in Queens where he developed in to one of the PSAL’s best 3-point marksmen. After freshman struggles at St. Bonaventure, he transferred closer to home, landing at Hofstra University where he blossomed both on the court and in the classroom.

   On the court he helped the Pride to a regular season CAA title in 2019 and a CAA tournament title in 2020. The beginning of the pandemic that year cost Coburn and his teammates a chance to compete in the NCAA tournament.

      Off the court he was twice named the CAA’s scholar athlete of the year and an academic All-American. His good work in the classroom earned him admission to St. John’s prestigious physician’s assistant master’s degree program. He was approached by Red Storm assistant coach Van Macon about playing for the Johnnies after he had been on campus already enrolled in the program.

    “It says something that he wanted to be part of this”, coach Mike Anderson said of Coburn’s decision to play a final season of basketball while matriculating in an exceptionally demanding graduate program. “It’s amazing I’m in awe of him”, coach Anderson added.   Julian Champagnie who finished with 19 points of his own added “It’s something about senior night I wanted him to have a big game”

   He led a well-balanced and winning effort for St. John’s. They held Xavier to a season low 32% from the floor.  And the return of Soriano helped anchor a defense that had given up 99 points to DePaul on Sunday.  At 16-13 overall and 8-10 in conference play St. John’s concludes the regular season at Marquette knowing they will enter the Big East tournament as the 7^th seed.  The high hopes of the early season have been replaced by disappointment. For Coburn, this season and his career as a student athlete has been a richly deserved success. And all of us who have watched his career as we follow New York basketball no that his basketball career will mark the beginning of a great life’s work.

 

     

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

 

 

Alexander and St. John's Win Convincingly Over Georgetown

 

Posh Alexander lead a balanced offensive attack and his team’s best effort defensively and St. John’s earned a much needed 88-69 over Georgetown at Madison Square Garden yesterday.

    While a convincing win over the Hoyas, who came into the game sporting just a 6-7 record and an 0-2 mark in conference play, does not provide kind of tournament resume building win they need it just might help them regain some confidence after a tough overtime loss at Connecticut. There were some good signs mostly provided by Alexander from the point guard position.

    As he has all season Julian Champagne led St. John’s with 25 points but, largely thanks to Alexander and his past and current teammate Dylan Adde-Wusu the team’s offense was balanced and efficient. Champagne was one of 4 double figure scorers. Posh and Dylan each had 17 points and 7 assists, while Posh added 6 steals. Forward Montez Mathis added 11 and Aaron Wheeler added 10 off the bench. His foul against the bigger and stronger Adama Sanogo on Tuesday at the end of regulation helped short circuit what would have been a great comeback and road win for the Johnnies, but he’s been a much-improved player since conference play began. That includes a 13-point 7 rebound performance against the Huskies

   After Ryan Motombo completed a hoop and harm 3-point play to tie the game at 15 St. John’s went on an 11-0 run that began when Aaron Wheeler connected on a trey off a pass from Adde-Wusu. Adde-Wusu then connected on a triple of his own assisted by Alexander. Champagne then connected on a short jumper assisted by Joel Soriano and then converted a pass from Adde Wusu for a three-point play because while Champagne’s dunk was blocked the ball got a piece of the rim and found its way to into the basket.

 The Red Storm led 43-32 at the half.  A jumper by Aminu Muhammad briefly trimmed the deficit to 9 as the second half began. The Hoyas would trim the deficit to 9 once more when Muhammad converted a pair of free throws but St. John’s, lead by Alexander and Adde Wusu pushed the tempo and pressured the Hoyas into 21 turnovers while committing just 10 themselves. St. John’s took a 20-point lead with 13:02 left in the game when Alexander set up Adde Wusu for a triple. St. John’s maintained a strong margin from then on thanks to the defensive effort Alexander had helped them establish.

“Everyone feeds off him,” coach Mike Anderson said of Alexander. “He was everywhere…it was a perfect game for him, He’s very talented and we’re blessed to have him on our team,” Anderson said. Indeed they are.

Notes And Observations Kaiden Rice led Georgetown with 19 points while Muhammad added 13 points and 12 boards.

 St. John’s improved to 10-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play. They will look for their first road win of the season Wednesday at Creighton.

 

Xaverian Bounces Back With Road Win Over CK

    Xaverian used terrific outside shooting and a strong defensive effort to bounce back from a tough Tuesday loss to Iona Prep and earn a tough road win over Christ the King 53-40 last night.

   The Clippers outscored the home team 16-6 in what would prove to be a decisive 3^rd period. Leading 23-21 as it began, they connected on 3 shots from 3-point range; one each from Don Colon-Lewis, Aaron Goldstein and Supreme Niles. Goldstein had set up Niles’ triple with a nice drive and kick. And following a tough mid-range shot by CK’s outstanding freshman Markell Alston, Niles returned the favor, hitting Goldstein with a perfect pass in the shooting pocket for another 3-pointer.

    Goldstein had given the Clippers the 2-point advantage they carried into halftime, opening the period with a steal and basket followed by a 3-pointer.  Junior forward Spencer Mahoney joined the scoring after that connecting on 8 of his 10 points, including a pair of treys. Mahoney also played a key part in the Xaverian’s defensive effort, combining with fellow forwards Lewis and Michael Walker to limit the Royals to one shot most possessions.

   The two teams are similar because both rosters are filled with talent but also very young. They both have experienced growing pains in the always difficult CHSAA “AA” league. The Clippers’ learning curve was steepened by early season injuries to both Mahoney and Walker as well as the early season absence of Nasir Muhammad. Last night’s impressive win was just the 6^th time the Clippers had their full roster together.

   The Royals came into the game having enjoyed a bit more success while talented youngsters like Alston, versatile 6’9” junior Brandon Williams, combo guard Devin Vanterpool and rugged sophomore wing Dwayne Pierce develop. But they too experienced how tough the league can be on Tuesday when they were beaten by St. Francis Prep, the deepest and best-balanced team on the Brooklyn-Queens side of the “AA” league.

   Following Tuesday’s loss to Iona Prep in a game that saw the Clippers squander a double-digit lead the Clippers would need to dig deep to find the resolve they needed to close out a big win. Primarily that came from a stellar start-to-finish defensive effort, but there were a couple of key plays for the offense that helped nail things down for the Clippers. The first came on the very first possession of the final stanza. On the play Niles made a steal and appeared to have an easy layup. Christ the King’s Vanterpool, a deceptively athletic 6’3” junior made a terrific chase down block. It would have been a momentum changing play for the Royals accept that Walker had followed the play, calmly took the hard carom off the board and converted a follow basket, giving the Clippers their largest margin of 16 points.

   The second 4^th quarter moment for the offense came with just over 3 minutes left. Vanterpool, who tied Goldstein for game high scoring honors with 15 points, and Williams who had found his touch in the second half, provided the Royals with an offensive spark. Williams hit a mid-range jumper to cut the margin to 43-33 and the sense in the gym was that a rally might be coming. This time, it was Muhammad’s turn to set up a teammate and he hit sophomore Nico Pena with a perfect transition pass for a trey.  Pena has been one of the Clippers’ most reliable 3-point shooters this season. The Royals guarded him well and to his credit he stayed patient and did not force action. When the opportunity came to make a big shot, he was ready and drilled it. The basket pushed Xavierian’s lead back to 13 and took the air out of a potential rally for the Royals.

   Early this season, national powers Stepinac and Hayes, along with St, Francis Prep have established themselves at the top of the league. But if the young Clippers and Royals can stay focused on improving for a playoff run, they could surprise a favorite or two and make a deep playoff run of their own.

Two Career Highs Lift St. John's to a Big Win in Their Return to Action

 

     On a night that saw St. John’s return from a 17-day COVID pause and open their Big East season, they got career best performances from two players. One, Julian Champagne has his star already well established. The second, Dylan Adde-Wusu has a star that’s just beginning to emerge in this his sophomore season. Together, they lifted the Red Storm to an 89-84 win over DePaul at Carnesecca Arena on a night when Louie celebrated his 97^th birthday.

    “Nothing surprises me about this kid”, coach Mike Anderson said of Champagne after he established career highs with 34 points and 16 rebounds. “He’s one of the hardest working kids I’ve had some good ones who worked hard like Joe Johnson and Bobby Portis”, Anderson said referencing a pair of NBA players whom he coached while at Arkansas. Champagne’s outing was also typically efficient as he converted on 12-22 shots including 4-7 from 3-point range.

   While Champagne started quickly with 13 first half points, it took Adde-Wusu a bit longer to get in the swing of things. He called it “a bad first half” for himself but St. John’s struggled at times also. Fatigue may well have manifested itself in two areas, free throw shooting, where St. John’s shot just 13-23 for the game and defensive rotations, which is harder to quantify but resulted in some easy hoops for DePaul. And while St. John’s led by as many as 11 in the opening stanza, they struggled to maintain a lead. It took a driving layup by Posh Alexander, who oddly did not start the game, to send the Johnnies to the locker room leading by just 4 at 39-35.

   That play turned out to be a portent of things to come for Posh who scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half including a pair of 3 pointers.

   The Johnnies opened up an 8-point margin behind those triples and maintained it until with the score 51-43 DePaul used a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to just one with 15:44 left. A dunk by Adde-Wusu briefly stopped that run but The Blue Demons got right back to work behind West Virginia transfer David Jones who connected on a jumper and a drive. When forward Brandon Johnson connected on a corner triple and converted a free throw, St. John’s found themselves trailing 60-55 11:50 remaining.

    After that Champagne and Montez Mathis helped St. John’s regain some traction offensively. Following a pair of free throws Mathis fed Champagne for a layup and then took a pass from Adde-Wusu for another basket. With St. John’s leading 65-63 with 8:55 to go the two teams traded baskets until Champagne gave St. John’s the lead for good at 71-69 with 7:14 remaining and an assist from Adde-Wusu. On St. John’s next possession O’mar Stanley took a pass from Alexander to give the Red Storm a two-possession margin. After DePaul closed the margin to 73-72 with 5:29 left Adde-Wusu fed Champagne first for a layup and then for a triple to make the score 78-72. Trailing by six DePaul had one last rally. They pulled to within 84-81 on consecutive layups by Brandon Johnson and Jevon Freeman-Liberty. That set the stage for the biggest of many big plays Adde-Wusu made. While he rightly attributed the bulk of his career high 17 points to his cutting and good passing from teammates, the shot that gave the Johnnies an 87-81 lead with 26 seconds left came on a play where the offense was stagnant and they needed and got a terrific clutch shot from a guy who appeared to be improving with each game prior to the COVID break.  If he can become a consistent 3^rd scoring option. St. John’s will become a tough out for any team in the conference. While the Johnnies could not get an NCAA resume building win in non-conference play there will be chances, beginning with Saturday’s game at Providence, to build that resume within league play.

Notes and Observations: Both Rafael Pinzon and Tareq Coburn missed tonight’s game, Coburn due to an injury and Pinzon for COVID related health and safety reasons even though he was present at the game. According to coach Anderson their availability for Saturday’s game will be a game time decision.

Adde-Wusu also had a team high 8 assists for the Johnnies while Joel Soriano had 9 rebounds and 3 blocks to go with 4 points and 3 assists.

DePaul dropped to 0-3 in league play despite a 24 point effort by Freeman-Liberty.

 

 

  

St. John's Celebrates With Big Win

 

     On a day that saw St. John’s celebrate their coach’s birthday and a career milestone for their best player and leader, Julian Champagne, the team played its most complete game of the season. In what would ultimately be an 82-64 win for the Johnnies over Patriot League rival Colgate, coach Mike Anderson saw his team build and maintain a significant margin. The reasons for their success were simple, fewer turnovers, and bench production.

    The Johnnies committed just six turnovers and moved the ball crisply for easy transition buckets from start to finish. Their play was highlighted by two transition buckets that were two pass fast breaks where the ball never hit the ground; one following a Montez Mathis steal where he passed the ball ahead to Champagnie who, without a dribble floated a pass ahead to Posh Alexander for a layup, and then a second following a Champagnie block that saw Pinzon pick up the loose ball and hit Posh, again without a dribble, for another easy deuce.

    Two nods of appreciation must be given before we take a closer look at the bench production. The first is to Dylan Adde-Wusu, whose entrance into the starting lineup following the loss to Kansas on December 7^th has helped the starting lineup by adding a player who moves the ball, guards multiple positions in multiple areas (in the post and on the perimeter) and has the ability to start the offense, no small thing because it compliments Alexander’s relentlessness attacking the basket. Wusu’s place as a starter also means that Stef Smith can come off the bench with even more of a scorer’s mentality than he usually does, while he may not be part of a complete second unit, his ability to score when starters, particularly Posh and/or Julian are off the floor, becomes more important.

    The second nod is to coach Anderson who has insisted that the big picture for this year’s edition of the Red Storm include developing the bench and, to borrow his words from previous post-game pressers “make it a strong part of our team.” For now, that remains a lofty ambition, and time will tell whether yesterday’s game was a step in that direction. In the short term, the bench helped them avoid a repeat of the scary end game situation they encountered vs. Monmouth where it took an alert defensive play by Alexander to save a possession and ultimately preserve a tight win. Grad transfers Smith and Aaron Wheeler played well but the best work of the bench brigade came from the two freshmen, O’mar Stanley and Rafael Pinzon.  Stanley had 6 points and 5 rebounds while continuing to provide St. John’s defense with a defender who can hedge and switch while playing the “5” position. Pinzon, the former Long Island Lutheran star who has struggled since a thumb injury suffered in practice following the loss to Indiana broke out in a big way with 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting and 3 assists. “I keep using this word; he’s got moxie,” Anderson said of Pinzon. “When you look at him and O’mar (Stanley) they bring a lot to the table. He (Pinzon) has a good basketball IQ he plays with nice flair and basketball savvy,” said the coach.

   All tolled the bench accounted for 34 points which may well have kept Colgate’s strong 3-point shooting game (they made 13) from becoming the equalizer it might have been and has been. Colgate had the lead only briefly in the 1^st half and St. John’s not only extended it to 23 points but kept Colgate from posing a serious threat.  For that reason, it was not only a great birthday present for the coach but an early Christmas gift for the fans.

Notes and Observations: Champagnie achieved the 1,000-point milestone in a typically efficient game, scoring 19 points on 7-12 shooting including 5-7 beyond the arc. He became the 52^nd player in the program’s history to reach that total and met the moment with characteristic humility. “It’s exciting to join a great list of guys who did that here. I take pride in it but it’s on to the next game,” he said.

Colgate played the game without leading scorer and point guard Nelly Cummings. The senior missed the game with what was called an “upper body injury” Senior Jack Ferguson scored a game high 23 points for the Red Raiders.