SEEING RED: Sir’Dominic Pointer of St. John’s and Notre Dame’s Cameron Biedscheid exchange punches in the final minutes of the Johnnies’ 66-40 loss in South Bend, Ind. Pointer was held back by teammates and officials (inset) following the nasty scuffle, which led to both players being ejected. (South Bend Tribune; James Brosner)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The St. John’s men’s basketball program has had some ugly moments in its illustrious history.
A player was arrested in 2002 for allegedly assaulting a female swimmer. There was the notorious 2004 trip to a Pittsburgh-area strip club that resulted in the suspension of five players and the expulsion of one. A former team captain was jailed for dealing drugs.
But all of those moments didn’t play out on national television.
Last night the college basketball world saw St. John’s as its worst — on the court.
With 1:46 left in what turned out to be the worst defeat of the season for St. John’s — a 66-40 loss to Notre Dame — an ugly fight broke out between Notre Dame’s Cameron Biedscheid and Sir’Dominic Pointer of St. John’s. Both players were ejected and must sit out their team’s next game.
“As a coach, and I’m sure Mike [Brey, Notre Dame’s coach] would agree, you never want anything that’s going to detract from the game and you want everything to stay within the spirit of good sportsmanship,’’ St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said.
“And yet I’ve also been in the game long enough to know that at times tempers flare and people lose their composure. In a business like college basketball, stakes are high and sometimes we do things as coaches or our players do things that we’re not proud of.’’
Try ashamed. Biedscheid and Pointer began trash talking on the foul line with 1:48 left as JaKarr Sampson made two free throws. Brey subbed out senior Jack Cooley, who was playing his final regular-season home game.
During the stoppage, Biedscheid appeared to flail an arm at Pointer. Pointer came back with a lunging right. The two exchanged punches as players from both teams grabbed and shoved.
Both players were ejected for fighting, which carries an automatic suspension for the next game. St. John’s forward Amir Garrett was ejected for leaving the bench.
When it was over, the Joyce Center crowd chanted, “NIT! NIT!” at St. John’s.
The Big East will review Garrett’s actions and the actions of every player on both teams before deciding if any additional punitive action is required. At best, St. John’s will go into its regular-season finale on Saturday against Marquette without guard D’Angelo Harrison and Pointer. Notre Dame (23-7, 11-6) plays at Louisville.
Last Thursday, Lavin suspended Harrison for conduct detrimental to the team.
Last night, the Red Storm players were detrimental to the image of St. John’s.
In a 77-58 loss at Syracuse on Feb. 10, administrators at the highest level of St. John’s were embarrassed when Harrison turned his back on a team huddle. That looks like a parking ticket compared to last night’s second-half meltdown.
St. John’s led 26-22 at the half, but after Notre Dame tied the score at 30-30, the Johnnies scored just 10 points over the final 15:08. Without Harrison’s long-range shooting, the Johnnies were 1-for-13 on 3-pointers, making them 2-for-24 in the two games since the sophomore was suspended.
Unable to score against Notre Dame’s packed-in defense, the frustration level soared. Phil Greene IV was leveled by a hard, clean pick at midcourt by the 6-foot-9, 246-pound Cooley. Pointer was called for a flagrant-1 foul with 6:39 left for throwing an elbow. The Johnnies, losers of three straight and six of their past eight, blew a gasket.
St. John’s declined to make Pointer and Garrett available to the media after the game.
“I don’t know where our heads are,’’ Sampson said. “Just focus on the next game.’’
The Johnnies’ next game, against 15th-ranked Marquette, could be for a spot in the NIT — forget the NCAA Tournament. The loss dropped St. John’s to 16-13 overall and 8-9 in the Big East.
When asked how this team bounces back, Sampson said, “No idea. I just know that players are going have to step up, other players have to step up big time now. You’re going to see pretty much a different team out there.’’
St. John’s can only hope so.