More magic: Hardy, Storm stun No. 4 Pitt

The journey that first-year St. John's coach Steve Lavin is sharing with the senior-laden team he inherited has gone from curious to promising to shockingly good as the Red Storm has knocked off one ranked team after another.

Yesterday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, it turned downright magical.

Moments after Travon Woodall buried a left-wing three-pointer to give No. 4 Pitt a one-point lead with 11.3 seconds left, Dwight Hardy took the inbounds pass, veered right around a high screen set by Justin Brownlee and drove to the baseline, where he seemed pinned by Pitt's Gilbert Brown.

In a flash, Hardy did a reverse spin to his left around Brown, managed to stay in bounds and then came out from under the backboard to scoop a layup over the rim with 1.3 seconds left for a 60-59 win. An ESPN replay showed his heels were out of bounds, but Pitt did not protest the non-call.

That gave St. John's a 7-1 record at the Garden, including five wins over nationally ranked teams, four of them in the top 10. Asked if his team now has earned the school's first NCAA Tournament bid since 2002, Lavin stammered a bit before saying he will "leave that to the experts," but it's impossible to see how St. John's (17-9, 9-5 Big East) could be omitted with such an impressive resume.

The Panthers (24-3, 12-3) joined Duke, Connecticut, Notre Dame and Georgetown among the high-ranking pelts collected by the Red Storm.

Pitt trailed by nine in the first half but went ahead 56-51 thanks largely to Ashton Gibbs, who missed the previous three games with a partially torn left meniscus. Gibbs, who was 6-for-9 on three-pointers, scored a career-high 26 points.

Foul trouble kept St. John's star D.J. Kennedy (11 points, seven rebounds) on the bench much of the second half, but he returned with a layup and two foul shots to make it a two-point game. Still, Lavin thought he saw a deflated team during a timeout just before Brad Wanamaker hit two foul shots to give Pitt a 54-50 lead at the 3:58 mark.

"I felt there was a stretch where we were playing joyless basketball," he said. "I said, 'This is Madison Square Garden. You've got this place electrified, and you're playing with your best friends and we're playing the No. 4 team in the country. This is fun . . . The focus was more on that than strategy."

Showing the resiliency and grit Lavin said his team has developed lately, the Red Storm came from behind for the third straight game. Kennedy made a steal and two foul shots to cut it to 56-55 with 1:47 left. Then he grabbed an offensive rebound, leading to a foul shot by Hardy (19 points) that tied it at 56. The second missed, and Paris Horne grabbed that offensive rebound. Hardy hit two more free throws to put St. John's ahead 58-56 with 27.3 seconds remaining.

When Woodall knocked down his three with 11.3 seconds left, it seemed St. John's was out of MSG magic. But Lavin put the ball in Hardy's hands.

"If I had a shot, take it; if not, kick back to Brownlee," he said. "I turned to see Brownlee, and my defender shifted that way, so I went with my instincts and reversed and went left. I was kind of behind the backboard and I couldn't really extend the way I wanted. So I flipped it up and it rolled right in."

As Lavin saw it, "Hardy seemingly [was] buried under the basket among the trees but then emerged with that Baryshnikov move to lay the ball over the front of the rim. That moment was pretty surreal to see the ball settle into the net and to look up at the clock and to have the crowd on its feet and to realize you have an opportunity to beat Pittsburgh, the No. 4 team in the country.

"It was pretty special."