The St. John’s Red Storm (15-10, 7-6) were once again without Coach Steve Lavin as they tried to get back into the win column against the #12 Louisville Cardinals (20-5, 8-4.)
The Cardinals came into the night after losing a quintuple overtime game to Notre Dame. The contest was the longest in the history of the Big East during the regular season.
D’Angelo Harrison would get things started quickly, hitting a three pointer just a few seconds into the game. Louisville then went on an 11-0 run in the next 4 minutes which would finally be ended by Phil Greene.
Greene and Harrison continued to star for the Storm sending them on an 11-0 run of their own. With 9 minutes to play in the half, St. John’s took the lead back at 16-15, all off of buckets by the aforementioned players.
Amir Garret soon after would join in on the scoring after completing a three point play. The St. John’s advantage grew to 19-16 with 7 left in the games firs half.
Louisville would wake up following the Garret basket, going on a 16-4 run to end the half. At the end of the first, the Cardinals led 32-23.
St. John’s had just three players score in the first, with the only addition from Garret being his three point play. Harrison and Green each had 13 and 7 respectively.
The scoring would finally open up for the entire team coming out of halftime, with four different players pitching in during a 10-0 run for the Storm. After 5 minutes of the second, St. John’s retook the lead at 33-32.
Russ Smith would propel the Cardinals to a 12-2 run, scoring 10 of his teams points. He would finish the night with a game high 24 points, 21 of which came in the final 15 minutes of the game.
The Smith led run would end up giving the Cardinals a 44-33 advantage with 12 to go on the night. Marc-Antoine Bourgault would then drain his first three to get the storm back within single digits.
Louisville would continue their torrent scoring as the second half went on. In the end St. John’s just didn’t have enough to match it. The Cardinals would take the victory, 72-58.
Phil Greene led the Red Storm in scoring with 21 points off of 50% shooting. D’Angelo Harrison dropped 22 points, but was just 6-19 from the field.
Gorgul Dieng of the Cardinals had a monster day on the boards, pulling down 17 rebounds. He also added 10 points to pick up the double double.
St. John’s will attempt to snap their two game losing skid February 20 as they host USF at Carnesecca Arena.
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