By Andrew Rosario
When St. John’s faced Xavier Monday night at their second home (Madison Square Garden) Monday night, the Red Storm were in the midst of a 10 game losing streak against the Mountaineers. The latest, coming back in January in a game that was closer than the score (75-67) indicated. Both teams were looking to improve their Big East standings knowing that a solid performance could result in getting a berth into March Madness. What has plagued St. John’s their entire season continued as they would fall behind 14-3 in the early going. Not to be deterred, the Red Storm, righted themselves and went on a 14-3 run, tying the score at 17 with less than 8 minutes to go in the first half. Neither team would not lead by more than 3 points as Xavier took 37-35 halftime lead.
Things turned up to start the second half as the X-men took a 6 point lead after a Jason Carter 3-pointer when the Johnnies went on a 10-0 run to give them a 68-61 lead with a little more than 7 minutes to go. Unfortunately, St. John’s would go cold and watched as Paul Scruggs hit 2 straight 3-pointers to bring Xavier with 3 at 70-67.
Having lost 4 games by 5 points or less this year, the Red Storm missed 8 straight shots at one point allowing Xavier to get back in the game and things looked good after a Nick Rutherford shot put the Johnnies up 74-69 with 2:04 left. Then, the demons would haunt St. John’s again beginning with a Naji Marshall deuce to bring the Mountaineers within 1 (74-73). Naji would help put the nail in the coffin. Driving to the basket, he spins and drops a pass off to freshman and New Jersey product Zach Freemantle who calmly sinks the tear drop. With 10.4 left, and having to go the length of the court, LJ Figueroa’s shot hits off the front of the rim as St. John’s would fall to 14-12, 3-10 in the conference.
The Big East tournament begins March 11th with both teams needing a solid showing in order to be part of the madness. Both teams need to be able to close out games down the stretch. Something they haven’t been able to do. There is time as both clubs have key games over the next couple of weeks.
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