This time it didn’t come down to a last-second shot.
It didn’t come down to missed free throws.
When the final seconds ticked off the clock, the chant of a hearty band of St. John’s fans reverberated in a near-empty Rutgers Athletic Center.
“We Are St. John’s!’’
Yes, there’s a lot of talk coming out of the Johnnies these days and they’re backing it up. The Red Storm wrecked Rutgers 72-60 last night, avenging a 58-56 loss on Jan. 9 at the Garden.
JaKarr Sampson and D’Angelo Harrison of St. John’s made news in the Rutgers locker room yesterday morning when they said they believed they were the better team than their last matchup and that last night’s rematch would be different. It was.
The Johnnies (12-7, 4-3 Big East), shook off an early nine-point deficit by dropping a 17-0 run on the Scarlet Knights between the end of the first half and the start of the second. Afterward, even St. John’s coach Steve Lavin had joined the bravado.
“It was refreshing because it was the truth,’’ Lavin said of his players’ confident boasts.
This, too, is true. St. John’s, which seemed on the road to ruin opening league play at 1-3, is now tied for fourth place, with home games upcoming against Seton Hall and DePaul. Wins over those two Big East bottom-dwellers would give talk of an NCAA Tournament appearance legitimacy.
“That would be big time,’’ said Sampson. “We know the league is kind of crazy.’’
Sampson (21 points, 7 rebounds) and Harrison (20 points, 7-of-14 shooting) were big time, but no player was more dazzling than Sir’Dom Pointer. Playing with an atomic energy level, Pointer scored 13 points, grabbed nine rebounds, had seven assists, made six steals, had two blocked shots and drew three offensive fouls.
“They wanted it more and he was the main reason,’’ said Rutgers coach Mike Rice.
The Scarlet Knights (12-6, 3-4) blew a big-time chance to gain legitimacy. Only 4,742 fans showed up for this battle between the met-area rivals and many of them must have been on Twitter or Facebook because they were a silent minority.
When St. John’s ended the first half on an 8-0 run to take a 29-28 halftime lead and opened the second half by scoring the first nine points, the crowd and the Scarlet Knights went into a coma.
“I thought we were taking it personal, the one-on-one challenges that St. John’s presents,’’ said Rice. “In the second half, we blinked.’’
Oh, this was personal. In the 58-56 loss, the Johnnies missed 12 free throws. Harrison and then Sampson missed ill-advised 3-pointers in the final minute.
Copies of the St. John’s players’ quotes that appeared in The Post were in the Rutgers locker room when the Scarlet Knights arrived yesterday. There are more quotes today they won’t like.
“We just knew we had to take of business,’’ said Sampson. “We knew we should have won the last game.’’
Enough said.