PHILADELPHIA — It was all on the table for St. John’s.
Third place in the Big East. The kind of resume-building win that would have gone a long way to sewing up an NCAA Tournament at-large berth. A seventh straight victory, over a top 10 team on the road.
Saturday’s game against ninth-ranked Villanova was tied with just under four minutes remaining. St. John’s then had the ball down two with 27.8 seconds to go. But the Johnnies were unable to seize the moment, losing for just the second time in their last 11 games, both defeats coming on the road in the form of three-point setbacks to top 10 foes.
St. John’s battled valiantly in its narrow 57-54 loss to the Wildcats, within reach the entire way despite a poor shooting performance and the absence of key forward reserve Orlando Sanchez, who was with his wife and newborn baby girl.
Instead of third place in the Big East, rather than feeling supremely confident about its NCAA Tournament chances, St. John’s finds itself in fifth place. It will need to bounce back Tuesday against third-place Xavier at the Garden after its six-game winning streak was snapped.
“You know, we’re frustrated,” sophomore forward JaKarr Sampson said. “We knew this was a big-time game and we wanted to get this win.”
St. John’s coach Steve Lavin preached patience and quickly moving on, the same approach that has keyed this furious run.
“We can’t get too caught up in the fantasy of the future and the NCAA Tournament; we can’t get too down about the loss to Villanova,” Lavin said. “We got to get ready for practice and preparation for Xavier. That’s what this team has done over the past month, and that’s why we’ve continued to elevate our play.”
The Johnnies shot just 32 percent from the field, made just 3-of-11 3-point attempts and missed six free throws. D’Angelo Harrison scored 15 points, but hit just 4 of 15 shots. In his return to Philadelphia, freshman Rysheed Jordan had 13 points and six rebounds, but committed five turnovers and went just 6-of-15 from the field. Sampson added 12 and nine boards and center Chris Obekpa started, just five days after he suffered a sprained right ankle, blocking three shots in 24 impactful minutes.
Darrun Hilliard led Villanova (24-3, 12-2) with 18 points and Ryan Arcidiacono added 12.
Down the stretch, the Johnnies (18-10, 8-7) just had too many empty trips, shots they would like to have back. They could never grab the lead after briefly going ahead early in the second half despite a number of opportunities. After Sir’Dominic Pointer pulled St. John’s even at 47 with 8:00 left, the Red Storm missed 11 of their final 12 shots.
“Me and Coach Lav talked about this walking down here: It just seemed like there was a cap on the rim down the stretch,” Sampson said. “We were getting stops, we were playing great defense, we just couldn’t make a shot. Sometimes that happens.”
Arcidiacono’s banked-in 3-pointer with 3:47 left and the shot clock winding down put the Wildcats ahead for good, giving them a 53-50 lead. St. John’s got within a point on Harrison’s tough runner with 58 seconds left. Daniel Ochefu split a pair of free throws with 33.8 seconds left, but a cutting Phil Greene IV traveled with 14.1 left, unable to convert a nice feed along the baseline from Harrison, who was open.
“It’s an instinctive basketball play. You see an open man and you feed him,” Lavin said. “We had our opportunities throughout the game and offensively we didn’t produce enough to get over the hump for a victory.”
St. John’s did get the ball back down three with 11.4 left, but couldn’t get off a potential game-tying 3-pointer. Jordan’s half-court heave at the buzzer felt short.
When Lavin met with his players afterward, he immediately changed the topic to the future, of getting ready for Xavier. He also told them three weeks to the day, he expected to at the Garden in their home locker room, preparing for the Big East tournament title game.
“That’s where we want to be,” Lavin said. “Our goal is to win the Big East tournament.”
Lavin said Obekpa came through the game fine and Sanchez is expected to return to the team for Tuesday’s game against Xavier.