St. John's men's hoops defeats winless FDU with subpar effort
FDU forward Anquan Hill (35) and St. John's Red Storm forward Aaron Wheeler (1) battle for possession of the loose ball during the first quarter of the game at St. John's on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021. Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
St. John’s had looked pretty good so far this season, crushing lesser foes and hanging tough in a two-point loss in front of a full house at Indiana. Not so much on Saturday.
The Red Storm achieved the ultimate goal by beating winless FDU, 87-74, before 3,538 at Carnesecca Arena. However after leading by 18 in the first half and 22 with 10:07 to play, St. John’s let the Knights hang around into the late going before holding them off in the final three minutes.
It remains to be seen if this is a wake-up call when the Storm faces a similar foe in St. Francis Brooklyn at home on Tuesday.
"They had nothing to lose and everything to gain and in those kind of games you’ve got to put them away – we didn’t do that," St. John’s coach Mike Anderson said. "Then all of a sudden they start making shots from everywhere . . . . and they cut it to nine. We buckled down and made a couple late stops and got the win. That’s the bottom line."
The Red Storm (3-1) usually uses a 10- or 11-man rotation but had a shorter bench against FDU (0-3). Tareq Coburn, a top Storm three-point shooter, was absent due to a non-COVID-19-related illnesss, according to St. John’s officials. Rafael Pinzon, the freshman from Long Island Lutheran, was on the bench because of an injured left ring finger; Anderson said he would see a doctor on Monday.
Still the closeness of the game in the late minutes and the numbers aren’t pretty. St. John’s committed 15 turnovers and 16 fouls that led to 16 Knights points on the free throw line. Leading scorer Julian Champagnie had 17 points but missed 13 shots. The Storm came in making 43% of its three-pointers but was 5-for-22. And FDU shot 59% from the floor and 55% on threes in the second half after trailing 45-32 at the break.
"You don’t let teams hang around," Champagnie said. "I mean, we won the game. But we have to be better as a team defensively and offensively. Even when we don’t have things going, you have to pull things out. [Anderson] says a win is a win. Was it sloppy, indifferent? We’ll work at it."
Champagnie also had 10 rebounds, Posh Alexander had 17 points, Stef Smith had 14 points, Montez Mathis had 13 points and three steals and Joel Soriano had 12 points for St. John’s.
Mathis’ play was especially inspired after he was ejected from the game against the Hoosiers for what got called a flagrant 2 foul and played only 10 minutes.
Devon Dunn had 24 points including a three-pointer with 4:14 to play that got FDU within 78-69.
Mathis’ strong play helped St. John’s early. He scored scored nine points including a rim-rattling dunk just 8:50 into the game for a 31-13 lead. The Storm kept the margin in double figures almost the rest of the way, but never completely took the Knights out. St. John’s went on a 12-1 run capped with Purdue transfer Aaron Wheeler’s three-point play with 10:07 to play, making it 68-46.
After Dunn’s three got FDI within nine, Mathis and Alexander finished fast breaks on consecutive possessions and Champagnie had a pair of baskets to restore order.
"We didn’t come out today and put our best foot forward," Champagnie said. "That’s what [people] saw for most of the game."
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
