2 OT: Syracuse 93 – St. John’s 91
Well St. John’s, any last requests?
Blindfold? Cigarette? Someone who can be counted on to make a free throw?
The Red Storm’s day of reckoning is upon them following yesterday’s 93-91 double overtime loss to Syracuse in The Garden. They enter Wednesday’s opener in the Big East Conference Tournament against Seton Hall needing a win to qualify for postseason play. A loss and the season is over.
“It would have been good to get a win entering the tournament,” said freshman center Kyle Cuffe. “It would have given us a lift, knowing we were in [the NIT]. Maybe this loss will make us more focused.”
If losing makes a team focus, then St. John’s (14-14) doesn’t need laser surgery. The Red Storm has lost three straight and seven of its last nine.
No one loss was more painful, or potentially more damaging, than this Orange heartbreaker. St. John’s trailed by eight with 3:13 left in regulation and ran off a 9-1 spurt to send the game to OT tied at 68-68. The Johnnies blew a four-point lead early in the first five-minute period and were lucky to get to double OT at 76-76 after Syracuse botched a last-second play.
In the second overtime, Syracuse (22-7, 10-6 in the Big East), led by former Robeson star Allen Griffin, who had a career-high 31 points, converted 15-of-16 free throws to close out the Red Storm by shooting 81.3 percent from the stripe.
St. John’s was a woeful 23-of-45 (51.1 percent) from the line and still almost secured an NIT berth. Instead, it all comes down to Wednesday’s game against The Hall.
“Who knows, maybe we’ll find the free throw line between now and Wednesday and keep the season alive,” said St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis.
The Hall (14-13) kept its season alive by edging Connecticut 65-63 on Saturday. Because of the new two-division Big East format, St. John’s and Seton Hall, which each brought in top recruiting classes, did not meet in the regular season.
The Pirates can lose Wednesday and still be eligible for the NIT with a .500 record. St. John’s must win or the season is a failure and Jarvis suffers his first losing season as a college coach.
“I thought we’d be like one and two, atop the Big East,” said St. John’s point guard Omar Cook. “But we both finished at the bottom. We’re at the middle. They’re at the bottom.”
The Red Storm finished in a four-way tie for third in the East Division with an 8-8 league record but get the third seed based on a complex tie-breaking system. Seton Hall finished 5-11 and last in the West Division.
Now the Red Storm has two days to regroup for Wednesday’s elimination game.
Four St. John’s players were on the court for more than 40 minutes with Cook (22 points, nine assists, nine turnovers) and Willie Shaw (25 points) playing 49 each.
Mentally and physically this is a tired team. The players have known for the last two weeks that their fate hung in the balance. They needed two wins in the last four games.
Now it’s one and possibly done. There will be no last-minute reprieve.
“There isn’t anybody that we don’t think we can beat,” said Jarvis.
No team can escape the Executioner of March Madness. Survive and advance just came early for St. John’s.
