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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.

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Following their overtime loss to Villanova, the St. John’s Red Storm (9-5) would head up to Ohio to face the #14 Cincinnati Bearcats (13-2).

The Bearcats would be the second ranked team the Storm has played this season. Their first matchup came against the then #16 Baylor, a game St. John’s lost 97-78.

Play was physical early on as Chris Obekpa was temporarily knocked out of the game after taking an elbow to the face. The strength of Cincinnati also kept St. John’s out of the paint, shutting the Storm out in the games first 4 minutes.

JaKarr Sampson finally got St. John’s on the board after hitting two free throws. Cashmere Wright would score the first 8 points of the game for Cincinnati, and with 14 to go they led 8-4.

Despite shooting just 10% from the field in the games first 8 minutes, St. John’s trailed only 10-4. The defense forced four turnovers, and allowed the Storm to keep things close.

The overall defensive effort continued to be the star for St. John’s in the first half, holding Cincinnati to just 13 points in the games first 13 minutes. This allowed the Storm to hang in the game, and with 7 to go they trailed 13-12.

Following two three pointers from Cincy the Storm managed a run of their own, highlighted by a strong bounce pass from D’Angelo Harrison to Obekpa, who finished the play with a dunk. The Storm took the 20-19 lead following their 8-0 run.

With 2 minutes to go in the half, the Bearcats finally ended the St. John’s run and retook the lead. They would give it right back however, and after the games first 20, the Storm led 24-21.

St. John’s continued their uptempo play following the halftime break, taking advantage of the numerous Cincinnati turnovers. At the 15 minute mark of the second half, the Storm led 36-24, with Cincy hitting just 2 0f their prior 20 shots.

Following the 10-0 run for the Storm, the Bearcats finally managed to get a few buckets while trimming the Storm lead to 36-29. St. John’s would come right back however, and with 12 to go the Storm retained an 11 point lead.

Two straight turnovers by St. John’s would once again dwindle that double digit lead, forcing coach Steve Lavin to call a timeout with 10 minutes left in the game. Both teams came out of the time out on the attack, but the Storm was able to extend their lead to 48-38 with Harrison and Sampson each scoring four points.

Neither team found the bottom of the basket for the next two minutes until Cincinnati finally hit a bucket. Following that score, the Bearcats drained two three pointers to cut the Storm lead to 48-46 with 3 to go.

Cincy had a chance to tie the game, but TItus Rubles only hit one of two free throw attempts. D’Angelo Harrison would come down the other way and hit a deep three with the shot clock running down. Rubles came right back to hit a three of his own, and on their next possession the Bearcats finally took back the lead.

Harrison would give the Storm the lead once again soon after however, and with 20 seconds left St. John’s had a 53-52 advantage. They would hold on to win it by that score, upsetting a ranked opponent for the first time this season.

D’Angelo Harrison had 13 of his 15 points in the second half of the game. JaKarr Sampson was also a big contributor, with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals. Cashmere Wright led the way for Cincinnati as he recorded a 23 points, 10 rebound double double.

St. John’s will look to extend their Big East win streak to two in a row as they host Rutgers January 9 at 7 P.M. in what will be a three game home-stand.

St. John’s (8-5) headed to Philadelphia to face the Villanova Wildcats (10-4) Wednesday night as Big East play began.

Coming into the game, Nova had won nine of their last eleven games against the Storm. Last season St. John’s fell in overtime to the Wildcats 79-76. This game would have a similar result.

Point Guard Jamal Branch got his first start as a member of the Red Storm, though it was D’Angelo Harrison who ran the offense early for the storm. After a steal and a bucket from Harrison, St. John’s and Nova were knotted 3-3.

With 14 to go the Storm finally broke up a mini 5-0 run with an Amir Garret dunk. After trading a couple of buckets, Harrison was able to tie things up again at 10-10.

Both teams continued to keep things close in the first portion of the half. Phil Greene gave St. John’s their biggest lead of the game thus far at 17-13 after hitting a shot from behind the arc.

Harrison and Greene hit back to back three pointers with 7 to go in the first half. Sir’Dom Pointer got elbowed up high by Maurice Sutton of Nova after the Greene three. A flagrant was not called however, and Pointer was given two free throws.

Ryan Arcidiacono quickly drained two three pointers of his own after Greene hit just one of his free throws. Arcidiacono added a few more points as Nova went on a 13-4 run. With 3 to go St. John’s trailed 35-32.

Despite 21 points for Harrison in the first 20 minutes, St. John’s went into halftime trailing 43-40. Jamal Branch had been called for a flagrant foul late in the first that seemed to tip the momentum in favor of Villanova, as they finished on an 8-2 run.

Nova continued their control of the game coming out of halftime, taking a 50-42 lead in the first 2 minutes of the second. St. John’s finally got some control of there own, going on a 9-5 run to trim the Villanova lead to 55-51.

Branch was able to rebound quick from a bad turnover, hitting a quick three for the Storm. He quickly added two more points following a Wildcat bucket, keeping the Storm deficit at just 4 points.

Although Branch did manage to cut into the Nova lead, Arcidiacono continued to help it grow. With 12 minutes to go he hit  one of his seven three pointers of the game, as he finished with 32 on the night while allowing the Wildcats to gain a 63-56 lead.

With 8 to go Amir Garret scored four straight points to get St. John’s within two points of the Nova lead. But as Arcidiacono had done all night, he came back with a three. That would not stop the Storm from coming back however.

D’Angelo Harrison and Phil Greene hit two three pointers the other way and St. John’s was able to tie the game for the first time in the second half. With 7 to go, the teams were even 72-72.

Neither team was able to pull away in the next few minutes, with Nova outscoring St. John’s 6-4. Phil Greene then hit a big shot from deep followed by a layup, giving the Storm an 81-78 lead with 3 to go.

With 5 seconds to go, Nova held an 83-81 lead. D’Angelo Harrison got to the free throw line and hit both shots to send it to overtime.

Overtime would not be pretty for the Storm as they scored just three points, eventually falling to Villanova by a final of 98-86. Harrison would have a career high 36 points, but they would not be enough to get the Storm their first Big East victory of the year.

St. Johns will continue Big East play this Saturday as they head up to Cincinnati to face the 14 ranked Bearcats in what will be a 4 P.M. start time.

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St. John’s (7-3) played their first game at Madison Square Garden as they hosted Fordham (1-8) in the MSG Holiday Festival.

The Red Storm, who blew a 21 point lead to the Rams in 2010, were looking to beat their crosstown rival for the second straight season. Without their top scorer Chris Gaston, a Storm victory seemed inevitable.

JaKarr Sampson, as he has so often done this season, got the first bucket for St. John’s. But despite five Fordham turnovers, things were tied 4-4 after the games first four minutes.

Thanks to the Storm failing to take advantage of the early Fordham turnovers, the Rams were able to go on a mini 5-0 run to take a lead. D’Angelo Harrison ended it, and Chris Obekpa extended it, following a block on the defensive end.

The Red Storm finally knotted the score back up with thirteen to go in the first, and soon after that a Marco Buorgualt three gave the Storm a 12-11 lead. The Rams would bounce right back however, and after Branden Frazier hit a deep three of his own, Fordham had a 17-12 advantage.

Shooting was a problem early on for St. John’s. They were shooting 20% from the field with six to go in the half. The result of that anemic shooting was a 21-14 deficit.

Thanks to a couple of more Obekpa blocked shots, St. John’s found themselves back in the game. Following two Harrison free throws, they found themselves trailing 23-20 with two to go.

Both teams traded a few more buckets, and at the half the Red Storm were down 27-24. Amir Garret led the Storm with 6 points.

St. John’s came out of halftime with a quick steal that led to a score by Phil Greene. After a free throw by Greene, the Storm tied it  27-27. The Rams regained the lead after two straight buckets.

Sampson and Obekpa rocked the rim to tie the game at 31 all, with a booming dunk apiece. Harrison then gave the Johnnies the lead after hitting a jumper.

With under ten to go, the Storm could not quite shake the Rams. A Harrison three was switched to a two, keeping the Johnnies lead at 43-38. They maintained that minuscule lead for most of the remainder of the game.

Sampson would finally hit a jumper after being just 5-16 from the floor. It gave the Storm a 53-44 lead, one St. John’s would not relinquish.

The Storm would go on to win the game by a final of 58-47. Chris Obekpa would set a new school record of 11 blocks, while also chipping in 7 points.

“In my 25 years in basketball, I’ve never seen anyone like Obekpa. Lavin said of the record breaking performance. “His combination of intellect and length separates him.”

St. John’s will be back in action December 15 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, as they play St. Francis.