After two games that needed second-half comebacks to pull out a victory, St. John’s fans were eager to see their team execute for a full 40 minutes. Even though the Red Storm trailed by seven points early in the first half, it was as far behind as they would fall for the remainder of the afternoon.
After the St. John’s men’s soccer team won this year’s Big East championship, giving fans at Carnesecca Arena reason enough to cheer, five players scored in double figures for Steve Lavin’s squad as the Red Storm rolled to a convincing 82-59 victory over UMBC.
Although Moe Harkless led all scorers with 18 points, it was sophomore guard Nurideen Lindsey who provided the headline performance.
Lindsey came within one assist of recording the first St. John’s triple-double since 1999, finishing with 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
“I think we were all trying to go in the same direction collectively,” said the first-year guard.
Head coach Steve Lavin praised his floor leader by calling his game today a “special performance, and it was understated.”
St. John’s fell behind 10-3 early, but took the lead for good on a jumper by Lindsey at the 11-minute mark of the first half.
However, it was elder statesman Malik Stith who provided the surprise of the day by contributing 11 points in 27 minutes.
“What I told the kids that impressed me was kind of a methodical, deliberate, and mature way that we separated ourselves from UMBC,” said Lavin. “Right from the jump, I liked where our team’s temperament, bearings and collective energy were at.”
St. John’s heads into Madison Square Garden for the first time this season to face No. 16 Arizona on Thursday night in what will be the biggest game in the careers of most of these players, to date. Below, we recap the highlights of today’s game, as well as prepare for Thursday night’s battle with Sean Miller’s Wildcats in the latest round of “Lasting Impressions.”
Lasting Impressions
– St. John’s used their physical and athletic advantages to get to the free throw line thirty times against a weaker UMBC team today. Even better, the Red Storm completed 24 of those foul shots, good enough for an 80 percent clip from the charity stripe in what was, by far, their best free throw effort of the season.
– The press defense wore out UMBC toward the end of the first half, a change of pace from the sluggish starts the Red Storm got off to against William & Mary and Lehigh, in each of the first two games. St. John’s forced 20 turnovers today, including a plus-5 turnover margin in the second half, where they registered seven steals.
– Steve Lavin is working his way back to full strength, if today’s postgame press conference was any indication. The coach looked to be in midseason form with his trademark quotes while taking questions from the media. Some of today’s “Lavin Lines” included references to the season being a marathon, less “fire and brimstone” today than in the Lehigh game, and his being impressed with his team passing the ball, or “sharing the sugar,” as he likes to call it. Lavin also said the Red Storm are “at the point of the season where we’re just pulling out of the station,” and said that “under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, playing a Top 20 team, there’s going to be some butterflies,” looking ahead to Thursday’s matchup with Arizona.
– Though Nurideen Lindsey came within one assist of recording the first triple-double in St. John’s history since Ron Artest had one in 1999 against Seton Hall, today’s game ball goes to Malik Stith. On a day when many faces of St. John’s past (including former walk-on Kevin Clark) were on hand to get a glimpse of the Red Storm, the last remaining link to the program’s recent past provided a throwback to his early season form from a year ago, recording 11 points for his fifth career double-figure outing, and first since scoring 12 against Louisville last January at the Yum! Center.
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