Ejiofor Did All He Could In Loss To Duke
Special to the NY Beacon
By Andrew Rosario
Washington DC – The #5 seed St. John’s Red Storm had the #1 seed Duke Blue Devils right where they wanted them last Friday night in the Sweet 16 with the winner looking to advance to the Elite 8. The Johnnies took a 1 points lead (40-39) at the half and came out with a purpose in the second half.At one point, the Red Storm extended their lead to 10 points (55-45) after a 2-point Ian Jackson jump shot with 15:01 left. It was all downhill for St. John’s from there.
Duke caught fire offensively as they went on a 20-10 run tying the game at 65. St. John’s would get as close coming within 2 (77-75) but guard and hero Dylan Darling who hit the game winning basket to get them to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999, missed a 3-point attempt that would have tied the game. Duke’s Cameron Boozer sinks 2 free throws to ice the game ending the Red Storm’s season.
Duke outscored St. John’s 22-10 in the paint and had 10 fast break points to the Red Storm’s 5. It didn’t help Rick Pitino’s team as the attempted 32, 3-point shots and only converted 13. The Blue Devil’s guard Caleb Foster, who was playing after coming off foot surgery, came off the bench played 19 minutes scoring 11 points. Said Duke’s head coach Jon Scheyer of Foster’s performance, “still a little stunned with what happened, to be honest with you guys. He had no business playing tonight. Ninety-nine percent of guys do not come back to play under the circumstances of what’s happened to him. It was incredible the way he willed us. There’s no analytics. There’s no stats that can measure how big this dude’s heart is for what he did.”
A clearly dejected St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said, “our guys played with great heart. They made some defensive mistakes down the stretch, but that’s a credit to Duke. We had our moments in the game. We fought hard all season. We’re all very disappointed we don’t have a chance to win a national championship, but that’s a credit to Duke.”
A very emotional Zubi Ejiofor broke down in tears knowing that he played his last game as a member of the Red Storm. He finished his night with 17 points. When asked what he wanted to be remembered as a member of St. John’s, he said, “I’m just a competitive player, you know, on the court but my character is something I pride myself on the most. And to all the Johnnies nation, I appreciate you guys. For the past three years, you know, just embracing the player.” He buried his face in his hands as the tears flowed.
St. John’s gave Duke all they could handle but in the end they came up short. They will look back knowing they won the regular season Big East Conferenceas well as winning the Big East Championship.
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