RED IN THE FACE
Lifeless Johnnies beaten by LIU in another embarrassing effort
St. John’s is safe now. No midmajor teams are left on the schedule.
Coming off their best performance of the season — an energetic and emphatic 32-point win over Fordham — the Red Storm was upset for the second time in less than two weeks, falling to LIU Brooklyn, 74-73, Sunday at Barclays Center in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival.
Despite a significant drop in intensity and focus, the Red Storm (5-6) — a 15-point favorite — had a chance to win their fourth straight game in the final seconds, but Shamorie Ponds’ homecoming was spoiled when the Brooklyn native’s foul-line jumper hit off the rim as time expired.
“We were supposed to win this game,” said Ponds, who scored a team-high 18 points. “We didn’t carry the energy over that we had the past couple of games. We came out too nonchalant and flat.”
LIU Brooklyn (7-3), coming off double-digit losses to Incarnate Word and North Carolina Central, trailed by as much as seven in the second half and didn’t hold a lead in the final seven minutes until Iverson Fleming (21 points) hit a leaning bank shot with 25 seconds left.
It was the Blackbirds’ biggest win since the 2013 NEC Championship and first victory over St. John’s in the past six meetings.
“It’s obviously a huge win. … I’m trying to get these guys to understand, hey, this is their last chance to create a legacy for themselves,” LIU Brooklyn coach Jack Perri said. “It’s been a while since we went to the NCAA Tournament and these guys have a chance to do something special.”
After St. John’s latest lackadai- sical effort, it got harder to see when something special will come to Queens.
Playing without leading scorer Marcus LoVett Jr. (ankle, day-today) for the third straight game — as well as Amar Alibegovic (knee, week-to-week) and Yankuba Sima (transferring) — the thin Red Storm frontline was attacked early inside, as the Blackbirds jumped out to an 18-8 lead, behind Jerome Frink (20 points, 12 rebounds) and Nura Zanna (13 points, 11 rebounds).
St. John’s battled back to tie the score at 42 by halftime, receiving an unlikely boost from Darien Williams (15 points, seven rebounds). The senior forward entered the game averaging 0.5 points and 0.3 rebounds, yet scored 12 points in the first half, surpassing his total over the past two seasons.
The same passion couldn’t be seen in his teammates, triggering another ending few could have seen coming.
“They pretty much controlled the whole game,” coach Chris Mullin said. “Even when we had a little seven-point lead, we got sloppy again and didn’t take care of the ball. No one knows better than us, when you do that you get smacked. And we got smacked.
“If we didn’t have Darien in the first half we would’ve been down by 20. I asked everyone to match his intensity and his energy and his efficiency, we couldn’t do that. … I thought we were very careless and nonchalant. We’ve talked about it. … Knowing it and being able to do it on a consistent basis, everyone can do something once in a while. The good ones do it all the time and we’re not at that level yet.”