SJU falls to No. 23 Hall
St. John’s did not ring in the new year with a victory, falling 75-70 to 23rd-ranked Seton Hall (13-2, 2-0) in a hard-fought game Sunday at Prudential Center.
Khadeen Carrington, who was battling the flu, led the way for the Pirates with 24 points, as fellow seniors Myles Powell (16 points), Desi Rodriguez (23 points) and Angel Delgado (12 points, 12 rebounds) helped shoulder the load.
As a team, Seton Hall, which had won its previous four and first two in the Big East, was impressive from beyond the arc (13-of-29), helping overcome 17 turnovers.
“They came out and made 10 3s in the first half, a lot of teams would have gotten discouraged,” St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said.
Playing without their two leading scorers — sophomore guards Shamorie Ponds (20.1 points per game, third in the Big East) and Marcus LoVett (14.9 points per game), the Red Storm threatened to pull off the upset, cutting a 15-point second-half deficit to one with 4:42 remaining.
But the Rock came alive and Seton Hall rallied, never relinquishing the lead. In the final two minutes, Delgado had a huge put-back, Carrington hit important free throws, and Rodriguez put the nail in the coffin with a mid-range jumper.
“When we found out Shamorie wasn’t playing, I think it’s human nature that you kind of relax a lit- tle bit,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard said. “It’s also human nature for the other team to say, ‘OK, now it’s my chance to step up.’ ”
That’s precisely what happened, as Johnnies sophomore guard Justin Simon filled in admirably, scoring 15 points to go along with 10 assists and eight rebounds, forward Tariq Owens notched a team-high 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Marvin Clark II added 18 points.
Though the outcome was disappointing, Mullin said he was impressed by his team’s overall performance.
“Tonight was solid all the way through,” Mullin said. “We just didn’t get the win. I don’t feel good about losing, but I think I’m transparent. We played well.”
After opening the season 10-2 in non-conference play, St. John’s has dropped its first two Big East matchups, also losing 94-72 to Providence on Thursday.
“They obviously made some big plays, made some free throws when they had to, so congratulations to them,” Mullin said. “I was proud of my guys’ effort. A game like this will help win games for us down the road.” asquadron@nypost.com