The St. John’s Red Storm were able to secure a much-needed win against the North Texas Mean Green by one point today, 53-52, after falling to Michigan on Nov. 13
The game started off with an 8-0 run for the Johnnies with graduate student guard Daniss Jenkins and junior forward Glenn Taylor Jr. making the team’s first baskets.
Throughout the first half, the Johnnies seemed to finally find a rhythm with each other after Monday’s game, keeping the lead the entire half. A scoring drought for both teams went on for around six minutes, with both having issues offensively keeping the score 17-11.
From there, the Johnnies were able to keep the lead from North Texas, but the team began to falter in the last two minutes. The Mean Green went on a 4-0 run to finish off the first half.
Going into the second half, the Red Storm held onto a 10-point lead, 30-20.
The half saw multiple runs for both teams. North Texas was able to go on a 9-0 run against the Johnnies, missing multiple opportunities to score and turnovers.
After this run, the Johnnies were starting to finally fight back, with North Texas staying close in scoring range. The Red Storm seemed to finally click going on a 10-0 run pulling the score from 39-38 to 49-38. This did not last long as the Mean Green responded on another 9-0 run against the Johnnies, 49-47, with less than four minutes to go.
The game’s final minutes were a back-and-forth battle until the final seconds. North Texas pulled ahead by one-point, 51-52 with just two minutes left of the game.
With 1:11 left, senior center Joel Soriano was able to make two free throw shots to pull ahead to secure the win by one, ending the game with a final score of 53-52.
Soriano was able to keep his double-double record alive for the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds for the night, playing 32 minutes.
“We wouldn’t play like that if we didn’t have him,” Pitino said in the post-game press conference. “He is the last line of defense, because we don’t mind pressuring and taking away the three.”
Graduate student forward Chris Ledlum played some of the highest minutes on the floor, helping on the lower front. Today Ledlum went 0-2 on three-pointers and added six rebounds, only getting four points the entire game.
Even though Ledlum’s stats have been down, his teammates are still noticing his presence on the floor.
“Chris played really good defense and that was a play that [North Texas] loved,” Jenkins told the media about the final possession of the game. “Chris played it well and we came up with a big-time rebound.”
Jenkins crossed the 1,000 career points mark with 17 rebounds, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. In a post-game interview, Jenkins honed in on why the team seems to not be connecting on the court.
“It’s been more of coming together, to trust in each other, believe in each other and playing team defense,” Jenkins said. “It’s really just trusting each other and playing team defense.”
The Johnnies will play in Charleston again tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Dayton.
