This wasn’t supposed to happen. Carnesecca Arena was cloaked in the nervous tension that makes you question why anyone would be a sports fan.
A St. Bonaventure upset over St. John’s had swerved back and forth, between potential and probable, in the final minute of last night’s game. There were five lead changes in the final 1:31, but when Dwight Hardy’s baseline jumper fell short of the rim as time expired, the Bonnies (5-2) had secured a stunning 67-66 win, coming back from double-digits in each half to end the five-game winning streak of the Red Storm (5-2).
Following Dwight Hardy’s lefty layup with 28.4 seconds left to take a 66-65 lead, the Bonnies had one last chance to shake up Queens. And Andrew Nicholson did, stepping back from Justin Brownlee to sink the game-winning shot from the top of the key with 5.2 seconds remaining.
“I wanted the shot. I knew I was going to take it,” said Nicholson, who also hit a game-winner against Buffalo on Saturday. “It was a matter of making sure I could get square and get off a good shot. Once that happened, I was confident I could make it.”
St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said he’s glad to have a star such as Nicholson in pressure situations.
“It’s a great feeling knowing you have a kid who not only wants to take a shot like that but knows how to make it too,” he said.
St. John’s knew where the ball was going, but it didn’t matter.
“We wanted to double and make someone else beat us and we weren’t aggressive enough on our last close out,” coach Steve Lavin said.
“I knew what he was capable of doing out there,” Brownlee said. “It was just a bad defensive job on my part to let him get that shot off.”
In the first half, Nicholson was about as influential as Luxembourg. Faced with relentless, swarming double-teams, he had two points on 0-for-5 shooting, but the Ontario-native exploded in the second half, finishing with 19 points and 13 rebounds, scoring seven straight points, to spark a 10-0 run in the middle of the second half, tying the game at 47.
Nevertheless, Nicholson’s heroics almost didn’t happen. With a little more than three minutes left, the 6-foot-9 Nicholson, already with four fouls, spun in the paint, bowling over the 6-foot-2 Hardy, with the latter drawing a blocking foul on a questionable call.
“I was waiting,” said Hardy, who busted out of a season-long shooting slump by scoring a career-high 24 points. “I knew the move was coming, unfortunately the ref saw a different angle.”
St. John’s ran off a 13-0 run after falling behind 2-0, but St. Bonaventure responded with a 15-4 run, turning the rout into a bout, with St. John’s taking a 33-31 lead into the half.
St. John’s held a 31-0 advantage in points off the bench and forced 11 more turnovers, but poor rebounding and atrocious free throw shooting finally caught up with the Red Storm, as it went 10-for-20, while the Bonnies made 18 of 22.
“These are all correctable issues,” Lavin said. “They need to be addressed and there’s a sense of urgency because before you know it, we’re going to be in the Big East.”