Playing board games
Johnnies win despite struggling on the glass
For powerconference teams such as St. John’s, the nonconference portion of a schedule is the equivalent of a thief casing his next heist.
What you learn, and how you prepare to overcome the pitfalls in a job, could mean the difference between success and failure.
After five games, St. John’s knows the easiest way to get busted. The Johnnies, who posted a predictable 6553 win over a gritty Holy Cross team last night at Carnesecca Arena, must find a way to keep teams off the glass.
It was unsettling, but understandable, when the Johnnies got outrebounded, 4120, by a towering Baylor team in the consolation game of the Charleston Classic. But it is alarming the Red Storm got out rebounded, 3531, by a Holy Cross team filled with nonscholarship players.
“Lack of size would be my biggest concern,’’ St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said. “We have to win in a different way. We don’t have that [Shaquille O’Neal] or [Hakeem] Olajuwon. But what we do have is a number of players that have some nice length.’’
The Johnnies don’t have a dominating center waiting in the wings, but they could get some bigtime help if 6foot9 post man Orlando Sanchez is cleared by the NCAA.
“Orlando Sanchez would help,’’ Lavin quipped. “If Orlando doesn’t end up joining the team, it’s going to be the same that it’s always been — boxing out, doing the drill work in practice every day, creating better basketball habits, communicating. When a shot goes up we need to get five players saying, ‘Shot!’ ”
Sanchez is the center that would give the Red Storm (32) the kind of physical body they don’t have. Christian Jones is a powerful player at 6foot7, 222 pounds, and Chris Obekpa, who was at it again last night with six more blocked shots (he has 23 in five games), is an athletic forward, but the Johnnies don’t come in bulk.
JaKarr Sampson scored a careerhigh 20 points on 10of15 shooting to go to along with seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and one blocked shot. D’Angelo Harrison added 17 and Phil Greene IV had 15 points. Holy Cross got 12 each from Dave Dudzinski and Justin Burrell.
“There was a sense of urgency,’’ said guard Felix Balamou, who played an active 22 minutes. “We’re supposed to win this game no matter how many games we played. This is our home court, we are supposed to protect it.’’
Now if only the Johnnies could learn to protect the glass.