Hopefully, for the Johnnies sake, whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
No. 14 St. John’s entered Las Vegas’ Player’s Era Tournament with momentum gained from two wins against lesser opponents, but convincing ones at that. The true merit behind these wins would be tested against their toughest opponents of the early season, the No. 15 Iowa State Cyclones.
But the Red Storm’s offense seemed lost against the Cyclones, only totaling 13 points compared to Iowa State’s 23 in the first 10 minutes of play. Joson Sanon’s (7 pts, 2-10) missed trip to the charity stripe and a blown baby-hook from Dillion Mitchell (12 pts, 9 rebs) on back-to-back possessions just personified these early offensive woes.
After a stagnant six minute stretch without Zuby Ejiofor (16 pts, 9 rebs), the big man’s return to the court brought with him the Johnnies’ offense.
A combined 13 points from the dynamic front court duo of Bryce Hopkins (16 pts, 10-10 FT) and Ejiofor, with a timely three-pointer from Oziyah Sellers (20 pts, 5 rebs, 5-6 3PT), rallied the Johnnies back into this must-win game. Another low-post score from Hopkins gave St. John’s their first lead at 32-31, a lead they didn’t relinquish for the rest of the first half.
By a narrow 45-43 lead, the Red Storm showed some fight by clawing their way back into contention after a lackluster start.
Just one minute into the second half and a Josh Jefferson (17 pts, 8 rebs) layup later, Pitino called for a quick timeout to give his players an earful for allowing an easy basket. This aggressive use of a timeout set the tone for the highly contentious final half.
Neither team could gain an advantage over the other; a barrage of Milan Momcilovic (23 pts, 5-9 3FG) swung a six point lead to the Cyclones that was immediately erased by a Johnnies offense perfectly orchestrated by Ejiofor, who collected a team leading five assists as the half court-hub.
Both teams operated on opposite ends of the offensive spectrum with Iowa State focusing on attacking from beyond-the-arc, led by Momcilovic’s five threes. St. John’s concentrated on using their size to their advantage, out-scoring the Cyclones 38-30 in the paint.
This back-and-forth scoring came to a head as two straight Sellers threes gave the Johnnies a late lead at 80-79 with just two minutes to go.
These two threes were the last time St. John’s scored before the final second, as Momcilovic and Jefferson’s four points off of a layup and free-throws gave them an insurmountable three point lead that the Johnnies couldn’t conquer, falling 83-82.
A rushed final possession that resulted in a missed Ejiofor three-ball from the logo raises some questions on how this team should close out games with one-possession deficits.
How do you close out a game down three when the offense runs through the post? Especially if shot creators like Ian Jackson aren’t having their best nights.
St. John’s will get another chance to correct their late game mistakes in Vegas against the Baylor Bears tomorrow, Nov. 25 at 4:30 p.m.
