On a Friday afternoon in South Carolina, St. John’s dropped to 2-2 with a 88-81 loss to Dayton in the semifinals of the Charleston Classic. In what seemed like a home contest for Dayton, the first half provided fans with an electric back and forth affair. 

After breaking through an initial scoring drought, the Red Storm scored their first points of the game nearly three minutes into the first half. After finally making their first basket, the offense began to settle in. 

This was a completely different offensive display from what St. John’s put on tape in their 53-52 win over North Texas, but it would not last long.

Senior center Joel Soriano and Dayton’s junior center Daron Holmes II proved to be the marquee matchup of the afternoon, with Soriano getting the best of Holmes II in the first half. The big man from Yonkers led all scorers with 14 points, sending the Red Storm into the half up 40-38 after hitting his fourth career three pointer. Soriano is still 100% from deep in his career, a perfect four-for-four.  

Graduate guard Jordan Dingle also got in on the action, tallying 12 points on four-for-nine shooting in the first half. 

Dayton had an answer for almost every St. John’s bucket, as the Red Storm never led by more than six. 

The pivotal turning point came at the very end of the first half, where Dayton head coach Anthony Grant was called for a technical foul after pleading his case on a Flyers’ offensive foul.  For the remainder of the game, Dayton would go on to shoot 24 free throws, while St. John’s would only shoot five. 

As the Flyers chipped into the Red Storm lead, Dayton’s large fan base in attendance began to make their presence known. 

Despite a productive first half, head coach Rick Pitino opted to sit Dingle for the majority of the second half, in favor of freshman guard Simeon Wilcher. Once he was taken out at the 12:31 mark, Dayton produced their largest lead of the game. The Flyers went on a 11-2 run without Dingle on the floor, and the Red Storm were never able to recover. 

Dingle and Soriano were only able to combine for nine points in the second half, which would prove not enough to match Holmes II and junior forward Nate Santos’ combined 27 points. 

Santos’ provided a major spark for the Flyers’ late in the second half, where he made three tough and-one layups to extend Dayton’s lead. 

Dayton would finish with five players scoring double figures, with junior guard Koby Brea contributing 10 points off the bench, including an emphatic put-back dunk to end the Red Storm’s comeback hopes. 

St. John’s was completely outplayed in the second half, mainly due to their lack of defense, which is quickly becoming a glaring issue. 

In a post game press conference, Pitino spoke of his disappointment.

“I was not disappointed with Michigan, but I’m overly disappointed tonight,” he said. “We’ve got guys that just care about offense and they don’t know how to defend. Not in terms of effort, in terms of paying attention to the scouting.”

While the Red Storm’s defensive effort passes the eye test, in their last three games they are allowing a staggering 76.3 points per game.

The scouting department will have their hands full for the next 48 hours, as St. John’s takes on Utah in Charleston on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in a battle for third place in this year’s Charleston Classic.