Brought To You By The Letter “D”

The last time St. John’s played on December 1st was two years ago, when the Red Storm welcomed St. Francis into Carnesecca Arena.  In that game, the Johnnies led by 19 points at the half before withstanding a late Terrier run to prevail 69-61.  Exactly two years later, the boys of Queens took the court against another Northeast Conference team, Wagner College of Staten Island. After a stifling defense took St. John’s into the intermission up ten, the Red Storm stretched its lead to sixteen before Wagner fought its way back in the final minutes of regulation. Ultimately, the Seahawks fell just a little short. The final score, you might ask? 69-61, just like the final on December 1, 2008; a date on which a game of similar style and tempo was contested. St. John’s (5-1) used a total of 15 steals, nine of which came in the initial stanza, along with a suffocating press defense to hold Wagner (3-3) at bay, preserving head coach Steve Lavin’s 150th career win while simultaneously enforcing their belief in the concept of deja vu.  Lavin improved to 126-7 all-time when his team holds the lead inside the final five minutes of regulation with the victory.

“When I have openings, I try to attack,” said Justin Brownlee, who came off the bench tonight despite being the team’s leading scorer on the season.  Brownlee’s attempts proved to be successful en route to his 17 points and 6 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting.  After a quiet night in the Great Alaska Shootout championship, D.J. Kennedy also started the game from the seated position, coming off the bench to lead the Red Storm with 20 points.  “Anytime on the court, no matter what the lineup is, Coach (Lavin) wants me to be aggressive,” said the senior known to some fans as “Big Play” or “The Hitman.”  “Once Brownlee got in foul trouble, I looked a little more for my shots,” remarked Kennedy. “It’s up to us (the seniors) to close out games like that.” Dwight Hardy was the only other player to amass double figures for the Johnnies tonight, finishing with 10 points.

Tyler Murray led the Seahawks and all scorers with 21 points in the losing effort before fouling out in the final minute of regulation.  For Wagner, the loss was a statement game for those who felt the Seahawks would end up at the bottom of the NEC standings under new head coach Dan Hurley.  “We’re happy with the growth of our team program,” said Hurley.  “I was real proud of the effort.”  For Wagner, who opens its conference slate Saturday afternoon on the road against Sacred Heart, their performance tonight coupled with their win against Bucknell Monday night is an obvious pick-me-up for the upstart Staten Islanders.  “We only set one goal for ourselves for the year, and that was to qualify for our conference tournament,” stated Hurley, whose Seahawks need to finish in the top eight of the NEC to achieve that goal.

St. John’s won a defensive battle in both halves that was marked by missed opportunities inside and outside for both teams, who also fell victim to foul trouble.  In fact, each team (St. John’s in the first half, Wagner in the final stanza) went into the double bonus before the midway point of each period.  Lavin addressed his team’s free throw inefficiency by stating the Johnnies “left 14 potential points” at the line, but insisted that his players are “getting a better feel for what we expect.”  Despite being outrebounded 44-38, Lavin remained optimistic about his team’s lineup and composition moving on through his maiden season at the helm in Queens.  “You’d like to believe that you’ve got this recipe, like Mrs. Fields’ cookies,” was Lavin’s response to a question of how he is able to inspire his players to hold leads and understand crunch time scenarios.

After a well-deserved break in the schedule between their last game in Alaska and tonight’s contest, the Red Storm are the beneficiaries of a five-day gap in the action before their next on-court appearance, which comes at Carnesecca this Tuesday night against Atlantic 10 member St. Bonaventure.