Christmas may still be three days away, but for St. John’s fans, a trophy was placed under the tree last night thanks to what was arguably the best and most complete forty minutes played by the Red Storm this season.
Despite trailing by three at halftime, the Johnnies (7-3) used a near-perfect second half and a resurgence from two of their bench players to put up 48 points over the final stanza, defeating Northwestern 85-69 to bring the Holiday Festival championship back to the corner of Union and Utopia for the first time since 2005. St. John’s shot 80 percent (16-for-20) from the field in the final period, and ended the night with a 76 percent clip (16-for-21) at the free throw line that was a welcome sight for players, coaches and fans alike; along with the 60 percent effort from the field overall. (31-for-52)
“I feel like we’re ready for the Big East,” said Justin Brownlee, who scored 21 points and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Brownlee hit the shot that virtually iced the championship for the Red Storm, a 3-pointer that put his team up 73-62 with 3:48 remaining in regulation. Said Brownlee of the shot: “I felt like that was a dagger for them.”
Only four other players joined Brownlee in the scoring party, with Dwight Hardy’s 24 leading the way for St. John’s. However, one of the most impressive totals came from freshman Dwayne Polee, who added 10 points in just 17 minutes. “I took my lumps earlier in the season. Now, I’m just trying to get adjusted,” remarked the rookie on his resurgence. The biggest renaissance came from Justin Burrell, who turned the clock back to his dominating freshman form with 17 points and 9 rebounds on a perfect night (6-for-6) from the field. “Our staff is pleased for Justin,” head coach Steve Lavin said in his postgame press conference. “It’s a breakthrough for his ability to influence the game on both sides of the ball.”
Northwestern (8-1) suffered their first loss of the season just 24 hours after a 92-61 rout of St. Francis in the semifinals. The Wildcats picked up 28 points from forward John Shurna, who was named to the all-tournament team along with teammate Drew Crawford, who managed to score 17 in the losing effort.
Dwight Hardy also received all-tournament honors for St. John’s, who will get to enjoy the holidays with some new hardware to admire before making the trek to Morgantown to commence their Big East slate one week from tonight against West Virginia.
Wow – what a wonderful surprise. The St. Bon and Fordham games had me cringing and turning the channel…and worrying that we were in for another dismal season. This was the kind of performance that I was optimistically expecting this pre-season. Quite honestly it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had watching SJU hoops since the Artest years. It’s a shame the team isn’t all juniors instead of seniors…because then I think we all could be REALLY optimistic. But if they continue to commit to playing hard, smart, & together they could have a special year and sneak up on some people. They really do have a number of nice “pieces” and Polee can definitely be a game changer. If they had a real Big East caliber point guard (wasn’t that always “our” speciality?) – this could be a legit top 20 team.