Sports

St. John’s junior Bourgault a trey-mendous addition

The nickname St. John’s teammates have bestowed upon Marc-Antoine Bourgault, “Frenchie,” is misleading.

He is not the stereotypical annoying little French character with an overgrown mustache and an unctuous manner. No, the red-hot shooting guard for the Red Storm is the most mature player on a diverse roster — tall (6-foot-6), sweet shooting and, well, red hot.

“He is very popular with the girls,’’ older brother, Yoann, told The Post in a telephone interview from Paris. “When he was 20 years [old], he was dating girls, 25, 26. They were all 5-7, 5-8 or taller. Models.’’

Frenchie? C’mon.

The 22-year-old junior guard/forward, who will lead the Red Storm (15-8 overall, 7-4 in the Big East) into the Carrier Dome today against ninth-ranked Syracuse (19-3, 7-2) already has traveled a road men three times his age have yet to experience.

He left home when he was 15 to pursue the basketball dream, moving four hours south of Paris to play for Cholet Basket.

Bourgault could have stayed in France and possibly developed into one of the country’s top players. But he loved the athleticism of American basketball. He crossed the Atlantic and quickly began to wonder if he was star-crossed.

Bourgault signed with Montana State, which had scouted him at an AAU tournament. But three weeks into his time at the school, the NCAA said he was half of a credit shy of eligibility because his education in France was weighted differently.

So he enrolled at Notre Dame Prep in Massachusetts, where Monroe Junior College coach Jeff Brustad liked what he saw. But Bourgault’s right knee crumpled early in the 2010-11 season, tearing his ACL.

He was hurting and homesick.

“I could have stayed in France and played pro, but that was not my decision,’’ Bourgault said. “I wanted to have an education. That was what my parents always told me. I had a chance to go to college.

“At first it wasn’t what it looked like. I wasn’t eligible. I had to go to prep school and then to college. But at then end of the day I am going to college, playing for on of the best college [teams] in the country and will have a degree at the end. That’s what I came to America for.’’

Instead of leaving America after his knee injury, Bourgault went to Maryland, where his friend and former Cholet teammate, Kevin Seraphin, plays for the Wizards. He rehabbed with Joe Touomou, the former Georgetown Hoya, who is well respected in international basketball circles.

Brustad said he wasn’t counting on Bourgault being a contributor last season, a year removed from reconstructive surgery. Turns out Frenchie wasn’t custard soft.

“He would send me these YouTube videos of him doing cutting, stuff on a football field — change of direction, agility,’’ Brustad said. “I know he worked his rear end off.’’

It finally paid off. St. John’s was heavily recruiting Monroe center Orlando Sanchez. Coach Steve Lavin had another 3-point shooter on his shopping list. The Johnnies traveled to California to watch a junior college tournament when Lavin had an epiphany:

The shooter he was looking for was Sanchez’s teammate — Bourgault. But the NCAA threw up one last roadblock.

Bourgault wasn’t cleared to play until the morning of the Red Storm’s third game of the season on Nov. 16 against Murray State in the Charleston Classic. He hopped a flight and landed in South Carolina a few hours before tipoff.

It wasn’t until Jamal Branch went down with a left knee sprain on Jan. 12 against Georgetown that Bourgault got his chance against Big East competition. He scored 12 points on 2-of-6 shooting from 3-point land.

Bourgault started the Red Storm’s 71-65 win over Connecticut, scoring 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting from behind the arc. Bourgault is likely to start today, and St. John’s will need his outside shooting against Syracuse’s notorious 2-3 zone.

“I didn’t come to St. John’s to play five minutes a game,’’ Bourgault said. “But I kept working, played hard in practice, and the coaches always told me my time would come and be ready for it.’’

He was. When he knocked down his first 3 of the game, Bourgault held up three fingers — European style with the pinky, ring and middle finger extended — to the crowd.

“He’s starting to have a Dominic attitude like yeah, ‘I’m bad. I got this. This is what I do. I knock down 3’s,’” said St. John’s forward JaKarr Sampson, comparing Bourgault’s confidence level to that of sophomore Sir’Dominic Pointer. “He’s starting to get that mindset.’’

Now all Bourgault needs is a better nickname.