FRIED BY FRAIRS
Red Storm fade after hot start
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — St. John’s had a seven-point lead. Dunkin’ Donuts Center was quiet. Everything was going the Red Storm’s way, and a big win seemed possible.
Then, Providence woke up, and St. John’s failed to respond.
By the final media timeout Saturday afternoon, the result wasn’t even in doubt. The Red Storm had their doors blown off over the final 16 minutes. They were unable to get stops, unable to get quality shots and unable to regain momentum in a dismal 83-73 loss to the 16thranked Friars.
St. John’s (9-4, 1-1 Big East) failed to build off of its victory Wednesday over DePaul and is now 1-4 against power-conference foes. The Red Storm followed up a strong first half with a shaky second half, the story of this inconsistent team up to this point. St. John’s unraveled in the second half, as co-stars Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander were held in check — they combined for just eight points after halftime — and Providence played with an edge the Red Storm were lacking. The more aggressive Friars got to the freethrow line 30 times, attempting 14 more free throws than St. John’s, and Providence’s Nate Watson dominated the second half with Joel Soriano on the bench in foul trouble.
“The thing I’m really disappointed in is the free throw discrepancy. That was awful because you can’t ever get a rhythm,” St. John’s coach Mike Anderson said. “At the same time, they made plays.”
He added: “I ain’t a brain surgeon, but they made 25 of 30 free throws. You make eight out of 17. That’s a big difference in the game.”
Following his standout, 34-point outburst on Wednesday, Champagnie couldn’t match Watson. Hounded by Justin Minaya — son of former Mets general manager Omar Minaya — the junior star missed all eight of his 3-point attempts and finished with a season-low 11 points on 5-for-19 shooting. Alexander, after his strong 12-point first half, was outplayed by Jared Bynum (18 points) over the final 20 minutes.
Dylan Addae-Wusu scored a career-high 20 points, and Aaron Wheeler added 15 to help pick up the scoring slack for the Red Storm.
But St. John’s had no answer for Watson. The Providence big man scored 11 of his 22 points in an extended 24-10 run that turned a seven-point deficit into a seven-point lead that the Friars (14-2, 4-1) didn’t relinquish.
“I thought he was a man today,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said after picking up the 300th win of his career.
The Friars’ zone frustrated St. John’s, cutting off driving lanes. The Red Storm got stagnant and attempted to shoot over the zone, but had little luck, making just 5 of 22 attempts from 3-point range. Their free-throw shooting problems continued to persist, this time in an 8-for-17 showing.
Over the final 15:43, Providence outscored St. John’s by 17 and piled up 28 points in the paint in the second half alone.
“I think we kind of ran out of gas,” Anderson said.
➤ Junior forward Esahia Nyiwe appeared to turn his ankle in the first half and played just three minutes.