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St. John’s Holds Off A Late Surging DePaul, 71-62

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Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

After closing out their home-stand with a win, the St. John’s Red Storm (11-7, 3-3) headed out to Chicago to face the DePaul Blue Demons (10-8, 1-4.)

D’Angelo Harrison has not been chipping in at his usual offensive rate, averaging just 7.5 points in his last two games. DePaul would look to continue that trend if they hoped to defeat St. John’s.

The Storm hit their first three shots of the game, a far cry from their recent early game struggles. The steady offense gave St. John’s an 8-4 lead 3 minutes in.

DePaul at one point had missed ten straight field-goals. Fortunately for the Blue Demons however, the Storm were not hitting many shots either, getting 8 of their 14 points from Jamal Branch. With 13 to go in the first, St. John’s led 14-10.

After shooting 0-6 from three, the Blue Demons finally hit a shot from downtown. That three pointer tied the game at 19 points apiece with 9 minutes left in the half.

Neither team found much of a groove as the half wound down, with the lone highlight coming from Jamee Crocket who had a dunk and a floater, both over Chris Obekpa. The teams remained tied with 4 minutes to go, 29-29.

Crocket continued dominating the Storm in the paint, adding another dunk and an ally-oop slam to give the Blue Demons the lead. With a minute to play D’Angelo Harrison got his first two points of the game, thus taking the lead back at 35-33.

St. John’s would maintain that 35-33 advantage going into halftime. Branch had 14 of his career high 18 points in the first while Sir’Dom Pointer added 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.

“I just let the game come to me and took all the shots that I had.” Jamal Branch said of his effort. “We’re a young squad, just learning and maturing each game.”

Pointer had the lone St. John’s points in the first 4 minutes of the second half. As a result, DePaul was able to take a 39-37 lead.

Things would turn around quickly however, and following an Obekpa block the Red Storm went on an 10-0 run. With 14 to go in the game, St. John’s led 47-39.

Moses Morgan would end the run with a three, but a quick bounce pass from Jamal Branch going the other way to Harrison would get St. John’s going again.

DePaul was able to get within six points of the St. John’s lead, but another quick 11-0 run for the Storm gave them their big lead right back. Chris Obekpa finished the run with a huge dunk off of a pump fake followed by a steal and a layup. With 7 to go in the game, the Storm led 63-46.

St. John’s got a little sloppy following their spurt, with six turnovers in just two minutes. That allowed the Blue Demons to cut into the Red Storm lead, with 4 to go they trailed 63-53.

Jamee Crocket then hit two three pointers to get DePaul within six once again. With 3 to go the St. John’s lead was just 65-59.

Moses Morgan got the Blue Demons within one score after hitting a three of his own, but D’Angelo Harrison hit two free throws to give St. John’s a five point lead.

Harrison would hit the line again with a minute to play, making one of two and giving the Red Storm a 68-62 lead. St. John’s would hold on and win it by a final 71-62.

Sir’Dom Pointer would finish the afternoon with an 11 rebound, 14 point double double. D’Angelo Harrison had 13 of his 15 points in the second half, to go with 8 rebounds and 3 steals.

“It was a big time win, we played a collective overall game.” JaKarr Sampson, who contributed 10 points said. “We had an all around good game with everyone contributing.”

The Red Storm will look to extend their winning streak to three when they head to Rutgers January 23 to face the Scarlet Knights.

St. John’s Upsets #20 Notre Dame for First Big East Win at Madison Square Garden

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Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

After two straight losses on their first Big East home-stand of the season, the St. John’s Red Storm (10-7, 2-3) would look for a win against the #20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-3, 2-2.)

St. John’s had won their last four games against the Fighting Irish when the two teams played at Madison Square Garden. Double double machine Jack Cooley would look to end that streak for Notre Dame.

Things would look good early for Cooley as he got it started for the Irish with a dunk on a pass from Jerian Grant. Grant then extended the lead with a bucket of his own to give Notre Dame a 4-0 edge 2 minutes in.

It looked like the Storm would be off to one of their patented slow starts, that was until Phil Greene and Amir Garret each added four points to keep St. John’s close. With 15 minutes to go, they trailed 10-8.

“We came out very intense today. You know, coming off a loss to Georgetown; that definitely wasn’t the way that we play.” Garret said of the early effort. “We had a good few days of practice, so we knew we just had to come out hard today.”

Notre Dame continued to maintain their lead for the next 10 minutes, but they were never able to get ahead by more than five points. St. John’s would take advantage, and with 4 minutes remaining in the first, Jakarr Sampson gave the Storm their first lead of the game, 26-25.

Sampson would help St. John’s keep their upset hopes alive scoring 14 points in the first half. Those would be enough to give the Red Storm a 32-31 lead after the games first 20 minutes.

Following a Sir’Dom Pointer basket, the Irish went on a 6-0 run to retake the lead. Phil Greene responded with the first three pointer of the game for either team, tying it up at 37 points apiece.

Jamal Branch protects the basket as St. John’s had 9 blocked shots as a team. (Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports)

The Storm would keep their foot on the pedal, and following another bucket for the Irish, St. John’s went on an 10-0 run take a 47-39 lead with 12 minutes left in the game.

Notre Dame finally broke the run after Jerian Grant hit two free throws, but Amir Garret came back the other way with a three point play. D’Angelo Harrison would then get three points of his own after hitting a deep shot from downtown. At the half way mark of the second, the Storm led 55-45.

Following four Notre Dame points, a Pat Connaughton three would get the Irish within 5 points. St. John’s finally ended a 7-0 Notre Dame run after a Sampson jumper, and with 7 to play the lead shrunk to 57-52.

The lead continued to dwindle for the Storm, and the Irish tied the game once again with 5 to go, 59-59. They then took the lead on their next possession as Eric Atkins sunk a floater, giving him 21 points on the night.

D’Angelo Harrison would take an errant elbow from an Irish player that left him dripping blood. After an official review however it was found that Chris Obekpa was the one that smacked Dee in the nose, which would keep St. John’s off the line.

After both teams traded buckets, the bloodied Harrison hit a three to give the Storm the advantage once again. With two minutes to play St. John’s led 64-63.

With 30 seconds to go the Irish had a chance to take the lead. Harrison managed his third block of the game and then sent Sampson to the line, where he hit one of two free throws. On the next Notre Dame possession Obekpa had a huge block that gave the Storm the ball.

“He didn’t see me, so I watch how the other guys block shots during practice.” Harrison said of his crunch time block. “I went up with two hands to contest the shot and got the ball.”

The Red Storm would hold on to beat the #20 Irish by a final of 67-63. St. John’s held Jack Cooley to just 10 points and 5 rebounds. Despite only 8 points for Harrison, his game saving block was enough to lead the Storm to victory.

St. John’s will look to keep things going as they head to Chigaco January 19 to play Depaul, a game that will be played at 12 P.M.

Chris Obekpa Named Big East Rookie Of The Week

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Chris Obekpa has been named the Big East Rookie of the Week, the first time that the 6’9 center has received the award.

Despite St. John’s losing both of the games Obekpa played in this week, his strong defensive effort was enough to earn him the accolade. He averaged 10.5 rebounds and 5.5 blocks in the losses against Rutgers and Georgetown.

His first block against Georgetown was his 77th of the season, allowing him to break the single season blocks record for St. John’s. He added to his record as the game went on, giving him 82 blocks on the year.

Also impressive to note is that with his 11 blocks in the two games, Obekpa only committed one foul. He also kept control of the ball on the offensive end, with only two turnovers over the course of the week.

Obekpa leads the nation in blocks per game, with 5.12 shots being rejected on average from the big man. He will get a chance to add to his record breaking season as St. John’s host #20 Notre Dame January 15 at MSG.

Georgetown Beats St. John’s In A Rout, 67-51

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Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The St. John’s Red Storm (9-7, 1-3) would look to get their second Big East upset of the season today as they hosted the #19 Georgetown Hoyas (11-3, 1-2) at Madison Square Garden.

With their recent victory over #14 Cincinnati, the Red Storm are 1-1 in games against ranked opponents, with the loss coming against #16 Baylor.

Chris Obekpa got his first block of the game two minutes in, thus setting the new St. John’s single season block record. Obekpa’s swat was number 77 on the season in just 16 games. He would finish the contest with 6.

As things have gone recently on the offensive end however, St. John’s could not get off to a strong start. They managed just two points off of JaKarr Sampson free throws in the first 3 and a half minutes of the game.

Sampson did finally get the Storm a field goal, but it was Georgetown who would have the lead. Due to just 2-9 shooting and 3 turnovers, the Storm trailed 13-6 after 7 minutes of play.

Following a Jamal Branch basket to cut the Georgetown lead to five, the Hoyas would go on a 14-0 run. At the 8 minute mark of the first, St. John’s was down big 27-8.

D’Angelo Harrison ended that run with his first points of the game, but Georgetown would quickly go on another shutout run of the Storm. With 6 to go the rout was on, and the Hoyas led 33-10.

Things would not get much better as the first half ended, with Georgetown still leading by a large margin of  36-19. St. John’s was out-rebounded 17-13, while the Hoyas also had the assist advantage, 10-3.

Obekpa had 5 blocks in the first, including one heading straight for the highlight reels. But it was Otto Potter Jr. who would be the player of notice, with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assist and 2 steals. Harrison had just 4 points off of 2-6 shooting.

Nate Lubick had a high flying dunk to extend the Georgetown lead coming out of the half, giving the Hoyas a 47-24 lead after 4 minutes. Markel Starks and Otto Porter also contributed to building the Hoyas lead.

There would be a minor confrontation between Harrison and Porter 6 minutes into the second. They had to be separated by officials and Harrison would go to the free throw line, missing one of two shots. A few minutes later Pointer and Starks were called for fouls after getting locked up under the net. With 10 left in the game, the Hoyas led 53-31.

With 2 minutes to go St. John’s hit their first three pointer of the day off of a Jamal Branch shot. Sir’Dom Pointer and Branch would each add another, and they would finish the day 3-16 from downtown.

There wasn’t much else good to come in the half for the Storm, and they would eventually fall 67-51. Porter would finish with an 19 point, 14 rebound double double. Harrison had a season low 7 points off of a 3-12 shooting line while Jamal Branch had a career high 16.

St. John’s will look to finish out their home-stand on a high note January 15 as the #19 Notre Dame Fighting Irish come to the Garden.

Rutgers Stops St. John’s Late for Road Win

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Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Following their upset of #14 Cincinnati, the St. John’s Red Storm (9-6, 1-2) returned home to host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (11-3, 2-1) at Madison Square Garden.

Coming into the night, St. John’s had won 9 of their last 13 meetings with Rutgers, despite losing last seasons matchup 61-58. The Knights had not won a game at MSG since 1997.

Much like their start against Cincy, St. John’s struggled to find the bottom of the basket early on. The Rutgers defense stifled the Storm as the first half got started, holding them to 1-10 shooting while forcing 3 turnovers in the games first 7 minutes. Rutgers took advantage of the anemic St. John’s offense, taking a 13-2 lead.

Jamal Branch, who missed his last game due to an eye injury, finally got St. John’s back on the scoring sheet, hitting one of his two free throws. D’Angelo Harrison then made a debut of his own, hitting a three and trimming the Scarlet Knights lead to 13-6.

Harrison hit another shot from behind the arc, and with 11 to go St. John’s was down 15-1o. They continued to finally get in a groove, and after a 12-2 run, the Storm took their first lead of the game, 18-17.

Part of the comeback was due St. John’s being able to neutralize Rutgers big man Wally Judge , holding him to 1-5 shooting while allowing him just one offensive rebound. He also had one of seven Rutgers turnovers, his being a big one that came with 6 to go, and it allowed the Storm to extent their lead to 20-17.

Both teams traded a few buckets as the half wound down, and with a minute to go they were tied at 23 points a piece. Harrison and Sir’Dom Pointer would each add two more points, and after the games first 20 minutes, St. John’s led Rutgers 27-23.

After two turnovers to start the half, Rutgers retook the lead at 28-27. The Storm were able to hold them scoreless for the next 3 minutes, and despite another slow start to a half, they led 29-28.

Neither team was able to pull away as the half went on. It wasn’t until their were 13 minutes left in the half that a team had a lead higher than two points, with Rutgers leading 36-33.

Chirs Obekpa continued to struggle from the free throw line, going 0-4 from the charity stripe and putting his season numbers to 5-21. Following two of those misses, Wally Judge slammed home a dunk extending the Scarlet Knights lead to 38-33 with 12 to go.

Obekpa was able to make up for it a few minutes later, grabbing an offensive rebound and then tipping in a missed Phil Greene shot. Following the Obekpa tip, St. John’s trailed 44-43 with 8 minutes left in the game.

JaKarr Sampson then gave the Storm a lead but Rutgers took it right back. Sampson did it again, but as things had gone all game, the Scarlet Knights drained a three to give themselves the advantage once again, 49-47.

With 5 minutes left Rutgers had a chance to extend their lead, but an Obekpa block kept the Knights at bay. The Storm came back the other way to knot things up at 49 apiece after two D’Angelo Harrison free throws.

Harrison continued getting to the line, scoring three more points for St. John’s from the stripe. But after missing his fourth opportunity, Rutgers took the ball down the court to take, and then extend the lead to 55-52 with 2 minutes left.

As he had done all second half, Harrison got himself to the free throw line with 30 seconds to go and a chance to tie. He hit only one of two and the Storm continued to trail the Knights. St. John’s would not be able get back in it after the miss, and they would fall 58-56.

St. John’s will look to get back at .500 in the Big East as they host the Georgetown Hoyas January 12 at MSG.