St. John’s has mastered the art of the second-half comeback. Yesterday’s come-from-behind, 57-49 victory over NJIT at Carnesecca Arena was the latest example.
Now the challenge is not to need a rally.
Down 14 moments into the second half, the Red Storm stormed back with a fury, ripping off runs of 19-3 and 11-2 to take control for their fourth straight win.
“I’m happy with the win, but we have to stop starting games like this,” said freshman forward JaKarr Sampson after notching his first career double-double with 15 points and 17 rebounds. “Coach always emphasizes playing for 40 minutes, and we keep playing for 20 minutes. We have to change that.”
D’Angelo Harrison led the Red Storm with 21 points — the seventh time in eight games the sophomore has scored at least 20 — and Chris Obekpa chipped in eight points, six rebounds and five blocks.
St. John’s remained undefeated at Carnesecca Arena despite what head coach Steve Lavin described as a “dominant” first half by NJIT in which the Highlanders “torched the nets and carved us up like french fries.”
“We were kind of worried about the trip [Tuesday to San Francisco],” Obekpa said. “We forgot about the game.”
It was eerily similar to the way St. John’s played against Florida Gulf Coast last weekend, when it rallied from a 13-point deficit.
Facing a lesser opponent in front of a small crowd, the Johnnies (6-2) came out flat. They were slow to loose balls, took poor shots, were beaten off the glass — a season-long bugaboo — and grew frustrated against the patient Highlanders.
A different team showed up for the second half. Harrison led the charge, scoring nine of 19 St. John’s points in the initial spurt, and Obekpa put the game away, first with a two-handed dunk after feigning a handoff to Harrison and moments later with a 15-foot jumper that gave St. John’s a five-point lead with 2:26 left.
The biggest change came on the defensive end. NJIT managed just 14 second-half points on 20 percent shooting from the field, and St. John’s registered eight of its 12 blocks, equaling a season high.
The victory was hardly a reason to celebrate. Against NJIT (4-3), the Red Storm owned a decided advantage in size, athleticism and quickness. As they get into Big East play, porous first halves will be tougher to overcome.
“Eventually, it’s going to burn you,” Lavin said.