JaKarr Sampson described the last three weeks as being in a “dark place.”
Saturday night offered Sampson and his St. John’s teammates a reprieve into the light in the form of Dartmouth, a beatable mid-major opponent with just five Division I victories.
St. John’s took advantage, responding after a few shaky moments in the first half, for a 69-55 win over Dartmouth, its first victory in 22 days, snapping a five-game losing streak.
Phil Greene IV sank a career-high four 3-pointers en route to a team-high 16 points, the Johnnies blocked 10 shots, and coach Steve Lavin was able to empty his bench in the final few feel-good minutes.
“It feels great to get the monkey off our backs, to get one in the ‘W’ column,” Greene said. “It’s a great feeling. Now we got to continue to build on it. … It was tough, but we had a breakthrough today.”
That may be an overstatement. Dartmouth (7-8), expected to finish near the bottom of the Ivy League, entered with an RPI of 287 and was physically overmatched at every position, yet trailed by just four points at halftime. Furthermore, St. John’s standing in the Big East worsened as well.
Butler earned its first league victory on Saturday over Marquette, making the Red Storm (10-8) the lone remaining winless team, and all alone in the cellar.
Lavin, however, said he feels his team has played well of late, despite losses to underwhelming DePaul and Providence, using the word “breakthrough” as well to describe their overall performance in practice and as a team since the lopsided loss at Georgetown on Jan. 4.
“We’ve made progress — dramatic progress — from the Georgetown game and very easily could’ve been 3-0 or 2-1 or 1-2, and we ended up with the worst possible scenario, which is 0-3,” the fourth-year coach said. “I thought we played really well.”
It was a highly optimistic take for a team that was predicted by many — including those inside the program — of reaching the NCAA Tournament and making noise in the league.
Lavin stopped short of saying the Johnnies are capable of producing the same finish his first team at St. John’s did, going from 11-8 at the end of January to the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve got a ways to go,” he said, pointing to needed improvements in rebounding, getting to the free throw line and defense.
They will look for their first conference win Thursday night against Seton Hall, a surprising winner at Georgetown on Saturday afternoon.
St. John’s quickly turned a four-point halftime lead into an 11-point bulge by scoring scored the first seven points of the second half. The Johnnies led by as many as 21.
Rysheed Jordan, the prized freshman, bounced back from his scoreless effort Thursday against Providence. He scored eight points, all in the second half, added four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Playing in front of his mother, Dawnette, Sampson had 13 points and Orlando Sanchez added eight points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
“A win like this is always big,” Sampson said. “It doesn’t matter how good a team is, how bad it is, because losing five games [in a row] is hard to do. Like Phil said, I feel like we got the monkey off our back and we can move on.”
Sophomore guard Felix Balamou wasn’t with the team. He was traveling back home to Guinea to be with his ill mother, Anna Marie Kolie.