FORWARD, MARCH!
Johnnies’ crazy 19-point rally vs. defending champions all but seals tourney bid
Break out the shoe polish. Take the suit to the cleaners.
St. John’s looks as if it’s headed to a dance — the Big Dance, the one the Johnnies have been waiting for a return invite to for four years.
With their third marquee victory of the season and f ifth Quadrant One win, St. John’s looks primed to get back to the NCAA Tournament. Just ask defending national champion Villanova, which couldn’t hold a 19-point lead, losing in New York City to the Johnnies for the first time in 17 years.
It was bedlam at a soldout Madison Square Garden, sounding as it must have sounded when the St. John’s coach, Chris Mullin, was sinking jump shots. The Red Storm started asleep, but closed like a March contender, pulling away from the 13th-ranked Wildcats for a thrilling 71-65 victory in front of 19,812.
“The energy was crazy in here. I never played in anything like it,” junior wing Mustapha Heron said. “I can probably say that for most of our team. It was fun. The fans, they came out, they were amped, and I think we gave them what they deserved.”
With its third win in four games, St. John’s (19-7, 7-6 Big East) moved to above .500 in the Big East for the f irst time since early January and improved to 3-1 against the league’s premier teams, Villanova and Marquette. It was the Red Storm’s largest comeback since rallying from 20 down to beat DePaul in 2010, and they handed the Wildcats (20-6, 11-2) just their third loss at the Garden in the past 22 games.
The contest turned on a 20-5 run midway through the second half, and St. John’s never took its foot off the accelerator, defending the life out of the Wildcats. St. John’s began pressuring Villanova at halfcourt, creating 16 turnovers, and cleaning the defensive glass, leading to 26 fast-break points.
“I think they’re one of the best teams in the country in transition,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “You got to score against them and you got to take care of the ball, and we didn’t do either.”
Sophomore wing LJ Figueroa, the best player on the floor, gave St. John’s the lead for good, sinking a right wing 3-pointer with 3:49 to go. After Villanova star Phil Booth missed two free throws with 1:47 left, Heron sank two clutch free throws, and the Wildcats were never within a single possession again as St. John’s made its final 12 attempts from the charity stripe.
Figueroa keyed the victory, scoring 16 of his 22 points in the second half, to go along with 12 rebounds. Heron added 19 points, 14 after the break, and Justin Simon notched 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists. For the second straight game, Shamorie Ponds struggled from the field, scoring 11 points on 2-of-14 shooting, but his best wasn’t needed.
“It says a lot,” Mullin said. “That’s not a game we win [in the past], maybe even a month ago.”
Booth paced Villanova with 13 points, but went 0-for-6 from 3-point range, emblematic of the Wildcats’ wretched second half offensively. They shot just 20 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes and made just 3-of-15 from deep, as their two stars, Booth and Eric Paschall, each shot 2-of-11 from the field.
“Our defense was everything,” Mullin said.
This was the opposite of the first meeting, a fivepoint Villanova victory in Philadelphia on Jan. 8. St. John’s led by 13 in that game, but failed to close. This time, it was down as many as 19 points in the first half and only within 11 at the break thanks to Simon’s 70-foot heave at the horn.
“We were screaming the whole way into the locker room,” Heron said.
The momentum carried over. Unlike the first meeting, it was the Johnnies turning it on and the Wildcats being unable to respond.
“The roles,” Heron said, “were reversed.”