Errant pass costs Storm against Nova
Moe Harkless tries to grab a rebound against Mouphtaou Yarou of the Villanova Wildcats. (Jan. 21, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
St. John's shot 68 percent from the field in the second half to overcome a battering on the boards by Villanova Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, and it was enough to give the Red Storm a chance to win on the last play of regulation. But a pass from God'sgift Achiuwa missed an open Moe Harkless charging to the basket and sent the game to overtime tied at 67.
The Red Storm then shot 3-for-8 from the free-throw line in OT before Sir'Dominic Pointer came up short on a three-pointer with two seconds left to let the Wildcats escape with a 79-76 Big East win. It was the fourth straight loss and the sixth in seven games for St. John's (8-11, 2-6).
"Had that pass been caught," Storm assistant Mike Dunlap said of Achiuwa's overthrown attempt to hit Harkless at the end of regulation, "we'd have been some pretty happy boys."
As it is, St. John's young players have to be content with a magnificent effort while trying to process another hard-earned lesson in Big East basketball against bigger, deeper Villanova (10-10, 3-5).
The Red Storm got 28 points from D'Angelo Harrison before he fouled out with 1:55 left in OT. Harkless added 16 points and seven rebounds and Phil Greene had 14 points and five assists.
The Wildcats were led by their guard combination of Maalik Wayns (28 points) and Dominic Cheek (20 points, seven rebounds). They also got 13 points and 12 boards from JayVaughn Pinkston and 13 rebounds from Mouphtaou Yarou. Villanova outrebounded the Red Storm by 16 (52-36), leading to 15 more field-goal attempts (75-60).
Both teams missed 11 foul shots, but that's where Dunlap said the game was lost by St. John's. "You can talk about the rebounds and the turnovers, but the bottom line is free throws are easy baskets," Dunlap said. "When you miss 11 of those, it is real simple. That's something you have to get better at."
The Wildcats built a 29-24 halftime lead, but Harrison scored 21 second-half points and Greene added 12 of his 14 as a phenomenal shooting performance helped St. John's take a 60-50 lead with 6:50 left in regulation. Fatigue then seemed to catch up with the shorthanded Storm, which made only one more field goal in regulation.
The Wildcats reeled in St. John's with a 17-7 run.
"I do not think we ran out of gas," Harrison insisted. "I think we needed to be more aggressive. It was that we were tentative. I had a couple of turnovers, and they got easy baskets."
Still, with 11.6 seconds left, Dunlap, who is subbing for coach Steve Lavin while Lavin recovers from prostate cancer surgery, called timeout to set up a play. The idea was to hit Harkless cutting to the basket after he threw the inbounds pass. Instead of getting the ball out high to Harrison, it wound up in Achiuwa's hands on the baseline, and he threw it out of Harkless' reach. "We had one guy in the wrong spot," Dunlap said. "That pass that we script, sometimes they don't work according to Hoyle. Those are teachable moments. It just needed to be bounced in the pocket as opposed to a direct pass."
Execution was a problem at the end of overtime, too, when Dunlap tried to set up a three-pointer for Harkless. Villanova's defense nearly caused a turnover before Pointer grabbed the loose ball and fired a potential tying three that hit the front rim.
"Pointer was our fourth option, but that was out of a scramble," Dunlap said. "It was a good job by him to take that shot."
