St. John’s 88 Pitt 60
PITTSBURGH – St. John’s needed a game like this in the worst way.
It needed not just to win, but to blister an opponent. It needed to jump on an opponent the way the Red Storm has been blitzed in some recent games. It needed a display of teamwork where every player could board the bus with a smile on his face.
The Red Storm got all that and more last night in a breathtaking 88-60 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers in Fitzgerald Field House. St. John’s dominatedevery phase of the game, but one stat was most telling – 27 assists and just six turnovers.
“I wish every game was like this,” said forward Lavor Postell. “Everyone got a chance to play. Everyone stepped up. Everyone can feel good about themselves. We needed that.”
After losing its last two games and three of the last four, Jarvis inserted Postell into the starting lineup for the first time this season. Chudney Gray, the seldom-used sub from Rice High School, took over the role of sixth man and had his teammates rolling on the bench in good-natured laughter after draining three consecutive 3-pointers in the first half.
“[On Friday], coach told me to sit at the beginning of the bench so I knew I was going to get in early,” Gray said. “He gave me a great chance and I’m happy I took advantage of the opportunity.”
Postell, who learned Friday he would start, scored nine of the Red Storm’s first 18 points and finished with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Gray, a 6-foot-3 junior guard who had never played more than 18 minutes since transferring to St. John’s from Manhattan in 1996, scored a career-high 15 points in 26 minutes.
“It was unbelievable,” said Pittsburgh coach Ralph Willard, who earlier this week announced he was resigning effective at the end of the season. “I mean, Chudney Gray’s a good player, but he’s not someone you expect to knock down 3s.”
Actually, the players, and finally the coaching staff, felt Gray was more than ready to have his breakout game.
“I’ve been in coach’s ear for the last month, telling him to give Chudney a chance,” said senior captain Tyrone Grant.
Whatever Jarvis’ motivation was in making the changes – perhaps a message to Ron Artest, who has tried his coach’s good-natured disposition with criticism of his teammates – the results were nothing short of remarkable. Granted, this depleted and demoralized Pittsburgh team, which sunk to last place in the Big East, isn’t on the level of the Red Storm’s recent opponents, but last night was about how Jarvis’ team would respond to its first adversity of the season.
The Red Storm (18-6, 9-3 Big East), totally thrashed the Panthers (11-11, 2-9). St. John’s, leading 41-26 at halftime, dropped the hammer on Pitt with a 12-4 run at the start of the second half.
St. John’s shot a blistering 54.4 percent from the field, outrebounded Pitt 33-23, including 11-6 on the offensive glass, and held the Panthers to 14 percent shooting on 3s. Four St. John’s players scored in double figures, led by Erick Barkley’s 21.
“It’s always nice to win, but it’s even nicer when you win the way that the guys won today and that is playing such unselfish basketball,” Jarvis said. “I think that’s really a tribute to what this team and these kids are all about.”
