St. John’s was bloodied — literally bloodied.
Star guard D’Angelo Harrison was pressing a towel to his nose, trying to stop the bleeding with 3:40 left in Tuesday night’s game against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish had just dropped an 18-4 haymaker on the Red Storm, turning a 55-43 deficit into a 61-59 lead.
St. John’s, a loser of four of its last five including a no-show performance against Georgetown Saturday, was staring at a 1-4 Big East start.
“When the going got tough, the tough got going,’’ St. John’s legend Lou Carnesecca told The Post in the bowels of the Garden.
Did they ever.
St. John’s — on the strength of a shocking blocked shot by the 6-foot-3 Harrison on Notre Dame’s 6-10 Tom Knight with 25 seconds left — held No. 20 Notre Dame scoreless over the final two minutes and 50 seconds to wrestle a 67-63 victory. It was a complete role reversal from Saturday’s 67-51 loss to the Hoyas. It marked the third straight year the Irish had come into the Garden with a national ranking and lost to the Johnnies.
“We were the meat last game,’’ said St. John’s guard Jamal Branch, who made his first start count with eight points. “We were lunch meat.’’
Last night, the Red Storm (10-7 overall, 2-3 in the Big East) was meat and potatoes.
St. John’s turned 15 offensive rebounds into 13 second-chance points. They came into the game shooting 61 percent from the line but knocked down 12-of-15 (80 percent). They smothered Notre Dame’s outside shooting, holding the Irish, ninth in the nation in 3-point shooting, to just 1-of-9.
“They’re really different,’’ Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.
Coach Steve Lavin deserves kudos for the game plan he unveiled. Instead of playing his trademark matchup zone, St. John’s went straight man to limit Notre Dame’s effectiveness from the 3-point line.
Center Chris Obekpa, the nation’s leading shot blocker and the Big East Rookie of the Week, played just 10 minutes as Lavin went with a smaller, quicker lineup. But Obekpa still got a key block at the end. St. John’s got nine swats as a team, led by Harrison, who had three.
Harrison, the nation’s 14th leading scorer, showed patience by not forcing against Notre Dame’s zone.
“I thought it was D’Angelo’s most mature game of his career,’’ Lavin said.
It was. He finished with eight points, five rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and one steal. With Notre Dame (14-3, 2-2) leading 63-61, Harrison drained a deep 3 to put St. John’s ahead for good with 2:29 left.
Then the defense took over, keyed by Harrison’s astounding block. Knight got the ball all alone at the left side of the basket and went in for the layup. Harrison came down from the foul line and went up with two hands.
“I knew he didn’t see me coming,’’ Harrison said. “In the defensive coverage I was supposed to be there, so he wasn’t supposed to get the catch. I had to make up for it. I don’t think he’s a very good athlete, so when I saw the ball go up I attacked the ball first.’’
St. John’s was in attack mode all night. Swingman Amir Garrett (11 points, three rebounds, three blocks, two steals) played a great hustle game, and when Branch made two free throws with 7.1 seconds left, the Johnnies were bloodied but unbowed.