CINCINNATI – Coming into Saturday’s litmus test at Cincinnati, St. John’s talent wasn’t in question, but its toughness was. The Bearcats’ strengths – rebounding the ball, and finishing off games – were the Johnnies’ weaknesses, to be put to the test.
And St. John’s passed with a gut-check that was more hard work than work of art.
St. John’s beat the Bearcats, 53-52, besting the nationally ranked team them at their own game. No, make that escaped, because no other word would suffice. The Red Storm saw a dozen-point second-half lead turn into a one-point deficit with a minute left, only to pull out the a clutch victory in front of 8,142 at Fifth Third Arena.
The Johnnies (9-5, 1-1) couldn’t finish off Wednesday’s Big East opener at Villanova, but they finished Saturday. In the sweaty-palmed clutch moments, the Red Storm went to D’Angelo Harrison (15 points) and he delivered again, a jumper off a screen to give them 53-52 lead with :29 remaining.
And despite Titus Rubles getting past Phil Greene IV for a good look at the basket, he missed the jumper with six seconds left. Sir’Dominic Pointer snatched the rebound, and after being fouled with :03 left sealed the win.
The Red Storm had shot 1-of-7 with three turnovers in overtime Wednesday at Villanova. And yesterday they saw a 36-24 second-half lead turn into a 52-51 deficit with a minute left. But they found a way against No. 14 Cincinnati (13-2, 1-1) – who’d blown them out 76-54 in the Garden on Feb. 8 — to make Lou Carnesecca’s 88th birthday a happy one.
The Red Storm knew their resolve would be tested yesterday, as well as their rebounding. The always imposing Bearcats came in ranked in the top 10 in the country in both field goal defense and rebounding; and the Red Storm outrebounded them 40-34 and held them to 31.7 percent shooting.
Freshman JaKarr Sampson, their second-leading scorer at 13.7 ppg, bounced back from a hideous Big East debut. After fouling out Wednesday with just two points, he had 16 yesterday.
St John’s missed its first six shots and nine of its first 10. But the Johnnies steadily crept back in, and Pointer took it the length of the floor for a layup and 20-19 lead. They actually led 24-21 at the break despite committing a dozen turnovers, thanks to a 23-14 edge on the boards and some tenacious defense.
The Red Storm were clinging to a 26-24 lead after JaQuon Parker’s free throws, but ran off 10 unanswered points to pad their cushion to a dozen. Greene IV scored to put them up 36-24 and send Cincinnati scurrying into a timeout with 14:38 left. They spent the rest of the afternoon trying to hold on.
The Bearcats clawed within 48-47 on Rubles’ foul shot with 2:32 left, and even after Harrison drilled a huge right-wing 3-pointer – leaving the hand up for emphasis – Rubles answered with one of his own. Cashmere Wright’s layup in traffic put Cincinnati ahead 52-51 with a minute left, and gave the Red Storm a case of déjà vu.
But they pulled it out late.