Chris Obekpa wants to block every shot that comes his way — and last night he came close to doing just that.
Obekpa, St. John’s freshman center from Nigeria, blocked a school-record 11 shots in the Red Storm’s 58-47 win over Fordham in the opener of the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival.
“I’m trying to block everything,” Obekpa said. “You just play good defense and it will come to you.”
Led by Obekpa, the Red Storm’s 15 blocks broke the school record, set when St. John’s blocked 13 shots against Army in 1982.
Obekpa’s monstrous defensive effort keyed a second-half rally by the Red Storm, who trailed the Rams 27-24 at the break.
“It gets us all energized,” St. John’s forward JaKarr Sampson said. “It’s just like a dunk, but on the defensive end. It gets us all pumped, energized and wanting to play defense and be right there with [Obekpa].”
Sampson also provided a big boost to the sluggish Red Storm, as he scored a game-high 16 points and ignitedi the crowd with a steal and dunk in the second half to bring St. John’s even with the Rams at 31.
Minutes later, Sampson gave the Red Storm the lead for good, hitting two free throws with just over 10 minutes left to put St. John’s ahead 40-38. It was the first time either Sampson or Obepka had played at the Garden — one of the Red Storm’s two home courts — and coach Steve Lavin hinted the bright lights might have gotten to his young team early.
“I think early, our newcomers had some jitters,” Lavin said. “I think JaKarr found his rhythm and zone in the second half and hit some big shots.”
St. John’s (7-3) needed a halftime adjustment in order to overcome the Rams’ dominance in the paint and on the glass. Fordham (1-8) outscored St. John’s 30-23 in the paint and outrebounded Lavin’s club 56-40.
“I thought that our matchup zone saved the day for us,” said Lavin, whose team limited Fordham to 20 second-half points. “Holding them to 21 percent [shooting] in the second half was big, it was important. Also offensively, we were able to find some holes in their zone in the second half.”
Fordham was unable to overcome 23 total turnovers and its big men were foul-plagued. The trio of Travion Leonard, Ryan Rhoomes and Ryan Canty collected 13 total fouls.
“Once again we were in foul trouble,” said Fordham coach Tom Pecora, whose team has lost five straight. “Teams are going to the foul line a bunch against us, so for them to have 29 free throws and us only 10, I think that speaks volumes.”
Canty, a sophomore, finished with a career-high 16 rebounds and added 15 points for his first career double-double before fouling out.
* St. John’s leads the series against Fordham — which began in 1909 — 63-21.