Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
With their NCAA tournament hopes all but lost, the St. John’s Red Storm (16-13, 8-9) headed to face the #24 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (23-7, 11-6) in an attempt to salvage their season.
The Storm picked up a victory over the Irish earlier this season at the Garden, a win that propelled them onto a season high five game winning streak.
It took 3 minutes for St. John’s to get on the board, but thanks to anemic shooting on both sides they trailed just 4-2.
The rough shooting saw both teams combine for 4-14 shooting from the field in the first 5 minutes, leaving them tied at 4 points apiece.
After both teams traded buckets for several minutes, St. John’s was able to open things up by going on an 8-0 run. The streak gave the Storm a 16-10 lead with 8 to go, capped off by a rare Felix Balamou bucket.
Jerian Grant would nail a three as Notre Dame battled to retake the lead at 19-18. Phil Greene would take it right back however, delivering a sweet bounce pass to JaKarr Sampson that gave the Storm a lead in the last 2 minutes of the first.
Sir’Dom Pointer would then knock down a shot from deep to extend the Storm lead to 26-19. Eric Atkins would hit his own trey to match, but it was St. John’s leading at halftime, 26-22.
The Red Storm struggled from the field coming out of halftime, going 1-8 in the first 4 minutes. Thanks to blocks from Pointer and Chris Obekpa however, St. John’s was able to retain a 28-26 lead.
Notre Dame would be able to take things over soon after the abundance of blocks, going on an 14-2 run that gave them a 38-30 lead.
During the Irish run Jack Cooley set a hard pick on Greene that sent him flying to the ground. Greene would get up after a few seconds down on the court.
The big hit by Cooley would send him off on a strong offensive run of his own, picking up 4 quick points to extent the Notre Dame lead to 43-34 with 9 minutes left in the game.
The rout was on for the Irish and St. John’s was unable to bounce back. Things would heat up however before the 66-40 score went final.
In the last 2 minutes of play, Pointer began throwing punches at Cameron Biedscheid leading to both players receiving ejections. Amir Garret was also ejected after leaving the bench to join the scuffle.
St. John’s will look to end their regular season on a high note as they host the Marquette Golden Eagles March 9 at Madison Square Garden.
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