Sports

STORM’S MASON RE-INJURES ANKLE

The field-goal shooting wasn’t easy on the eyes – and the 3-point shooting was a flat-out eyesore.

But the worst sight on this night in Carnesecca Arena was that of Anthony Mason Jr., being helped off the court after severely re-injuring his left ankle in a 68-56 win over Long Island University.

Mason put in an offensive rebound and landed awkwardly on the right foot of David Hicks. Both players crashed to the court with 5:58 left, and Mason began pounding the hardwood in agony.

“I was just hoping it wasn’t as severe as it looked,” said freshman swingman D.J. Kennedy.

It didn’t look good. When Mason finally rose and tried to put some weight on the leg, he looked to his teammates for help. He draped his left arm around Eugene Lawrence’s shoulder and his right around Justin Burrell’s.

Mason stopped at the bench just long enough to grab a white towel, hurl it behind him in disgust, and head for the training room. He was examined by Dr. Osric King and will be X-rayed today.

“I came down on one of the LIU players after the put back and I rolled the same ankle,” Mason said in a statement. “I was really excited to be out there with my team and I am disappointed right now. I’ll wait and see what our medical staff has to say in the next few days and I will be back with my teammates as soon as I am ready.”

When he first suffered the high-ankle sprain on Nov. 3, it was described as a day-to-day injury. Mason, however, missed the first three games, and his status to come off the bench for yesterday’s game wasn’t confirmed until after the afternoon shoot around.

When asked if it had the look of another 2-4 week injury, trainer Ron Linfonte hedged his bet.

“Probably cut the difference again,” Linfonte said. “It took three weeks to get back from the first one, my guess is it will be three weeks again.”

Three weeks takes the Red Storm until mid-December when it leaves for the Rainbow Classic. Don’t be shocked if Mason, who left the building on crutches, is left behind to get added treatment and be ready for the Holiday Festival on Dec. 28 to give him a couple of games to get ready for the Big East opener on Jan. 2 at Syracuse.

Mason was rusty in his first game back hitting 2-of-9 shots and going 0-for-3 behind the arc.

St. John’s improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season, though those victories were forfeited as part of the NCAA penalty for paying former center Abe Keita. The win was about the only good thing to come out of the game.

The Red Storm shot 41 percent from the field and a horrid 16.7 percent on 3’s. In fact, had Kennedy (18 points, nine rebounds) and Burrell (19 points, 12 boards), not missed chippies, Mason never would have had to go up for the put back that led to the injury.

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Guard Larry Wright injured his hip early in the second half and played 11 of his 19 minutes after the break . . . Center Tomas Jasiulionis did not start because of a strained left-thigh muscle and played 10 minutes.

lenn.robbins@nypost.com

St. John’s 68 LIU 56