St. John’s breaks out Champagnie in victory
ST. JOHN’S 89 DePAUL 84
There was fatigue. There was rust. But most of all, after an 18-day, COVID-19induced layoff, there was the return of Julian Champagnie.
That was enough Wednesday night for St. John’s on legendary former coach Lou Carnesecca’s 97th birthday. In his first game in more than three weeks, Champagnie looked every bit like an All-American. He wasn’t rusty. He didn’t show any fatigue. He carried the Red Storm to an 89-84 over DePaul in their Big East opener, torching the Blue Demons to the tune of 34 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots in 35 gutty minutes.
“It was kind of like he refused to let us go down,” St. John’s coach Mike Anderson said. “Nothing surprises me with this kid because he’s one of the hardest-working kids [I’ve coached]. I’ve had some pretty good kids who worked hard: Joe Johnson, who played for us at Arkansas, Bobby Portis. He’s in that mold in terms of putting time in on his game.”
It was a significant win for St. John’s (9-3, 1-0 Big East), coming off an ugly loss to Pittsburgh on Dec. 18, before the Red Storm’s COVID-19 outbreak. St. John’s needed to build some momentum with road games coming up against No. 16 Providence and Connecticut, and Champagnie made sure of it.
He sank deep jumpers, drove to the basket, threw down a highlight-reel dunk and got to the free-throw line a season-high 10 times. Over the final 11:24, the Brooklyn native scored 17 points and hit his last four field goal attempts. Not bad, considering Champagnie’s last game was Dec. 12 after which he tested positive for COVID-19.
Champagnie, who was symptom-free, said he felt guilty for his absence, even if it was out of his control. He atoned, setting careerhighs in points and rebounds (his 16 were the most for a St. John’s player since D’Angelo Harrison had 17 against Franklin Pierce on Nov. 17, 2014) and keying a surge over the final quarter of the game.
“That’s the kind of player he is,” teammate Dylan Addae-Wusu said. “I sat back and I thought it was like a video game.”
Champagnie was the headliner, but there were others who made significant contributions. Sophomores Posh Alexander and Addae-Wusu combined for 33 points and 12 assists. Addae-Wusu iced it with a shot clock-beating 3-pointer with 28.4 seconds left that pushed the lead to six.
Esahia Nyiwe, wearing a mandated KN95 mask, was strong defensively in registering a plus-five rating. He wasn’t able to practice at all during the layoff. Joel Soriano, also coming off a bout with the virus, had nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Montez Mathis keyed a 10-2 run that gave St. John’s the lead for good, and had 11 points and three steals.
Javon Freeman-Liberty led DePaul (9-4, 0-3) with 24 points.
“Tonight they rose to the occasion,” Anderson said.
One player, in particular, led that charge.