Barring a Sweet 16 run or a Big East championship, my most memorable moment of this St. John’s season is going to be Saturday’s double overtime 91-90 victory over Marquette.
In a game they had to have, when so much went wrong at key points, the Johnnies found a way to leave a notoriously difficult place to play victorious. There was the blown six-point lead in the final 11.4 seconds of regulation, deficits in each of the two overtimes, so many clutch plays that kept this gritty and gutsy group’s NCAA Tournament at-large hopes alive.
It sets up for a huge week in the city at the Garden. But before we look ahead to the Big East Tournament, let’s go back to Saturday’s double overtime classic in Milwaukee.
Harrison comes up huge again: As long as D’Angelo Harrison is at St. John’s, as long he wears red, the Johnnies’ fiery leader should be taking the last shot of a close game. Every single time. Harrison hit the biggest shot in a season full of them in Saturday’s win, a 27-foot 3-pointer with 57 seconds left in double overtime.
He seemed to surprise everyone in the arena when he let go of the bomb from the Bradley Center insignia on the right wing. It ripped the net’s cords, the latest clutch delivery from — in my opinion — this year’s Haggerty Award winner, given to the area’s top college basketball player.
Jordan’s defense keys victory: I’ve seen a large portion of this season raving about Rysheed Jordan’s many virtues, his ability to get into the lane at will, his underrated perimeter jump shot, his court vision. His defense — specifically those quick hands Lavin has compared to a young Gary Payton — often get overlooked. They may have saved St. John’s from defeat on Saturday.
The freshman from Philadelphia came up with five steals, and none were bigger than his strip of Mayo in the waning moments of the first overtime. Mayo, of course, sent the game into overtime with a runner in the lane. This time, as the clock ticked down, he tried to go by Jordan along the right wing, but Jordan knocked the ball away, and St. John’s prevailed in the second extra session.
Regrettable close to regulation: All the overtime heroics overshadowed what would’ve been a disastrous defeat. St. John’s had the game in the bag, up six points with 11.4 seconds left before completely collapsing. It began with a questionable loose ball foul call on Chris Obekpa, sending Davante Gardner to the line.
After Gardner made two free throws, Rysheed Jordan turned the ball over, committing the cardinal sin of throwing the ball under his own hoop. Without any timeouts left, he tried to bounce the ball off a Marquette as a five-second call neared. Instead, it led to a steal and quick Jake Thomas basket with nine seconds to go.
To compound matters, St. John’s inbounded the ball quickly to Orlando Sanchez, rather than one of their better free throw shooters, and Sanchez missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Marquette came back and Todd Mayo sank a runner at the buzzer to force overtime, capping a wild 11.4 seconds that certainly drove Johnnies fans nuts.
Bubble breakdown: From my vantage point, St. John’s has to win Thursday against Providence in what amounts to an NCAA Tournament elimination game. That’s the first step. That gets them into the conversation. Follow that up with another win, likely against top seed Villanova, fourth in the country in terms of RPI, and the Johnnies are going dancing. They would have 22 wins, two wins over top-flight opponents — the other victory coming against Creighton — and would have won 13 of their last 16 games.
I’ve seen so-called experts who say they still need to win the Big East Tournament, and find that silly to suggest. Of course, if St. John’s does cut down the nets at the Garden next Saturday night, it doesn’t have to worry about the bubble at all.