By David Okula (@david16okula)
NEW YORK — Battling it out for over three hours, it certainly didn’t feel like an exhibition between St. John’s and Rutgers at Madison Square Garden Sunday, as the Johnnies stormed back from down 18 points at halftime for a 104-99 victory in four overtimes.
In its first of 15 home contests at the World’s Most Famous Arena this season, the Red Storm gave the fans a game to remember even if it won’t ultimately count on its final record. In the opening 20 minutes, however, it was a lackluster effort by the Johnnies in just about all facets of the game. They found themselves trailing the Scarlet Knights, 46-28, and made just one field goal in the final 8:14 of the first half.
“Once Coach came in, he said his little words, but he didn’t yell, he didn’t get hostile,” Keyshawn Hall said of Rick Pitino’s halftime address to the St. John’s players. “We talked as a team and said we need to play a little tougher, not be weak. We didn’t want to embarrass ourselves out here and lose by 20 at Madison Square Garden.”
Coming out of the locker room, the Red Storm looked like a completely different team on both ends of the court. After Rutgers scored the first basket of the second half to go up by 20, St. John’s held the Scarlet Knights off the scoreboard for nearly six minutes and went on a 16-0 run to make it a four-point game.
Quinn Ellis was a leading factor in the turnaround for St. John’s, despite the fact that he didn’t score a point during the run. Much like the Drexel exhibition on Wednesday, the Englishman was making an impact in every way possible besides the scoring column, deflecting multiple passes on the defensive end and racking up three assists in the first six minutes of the second half.
“I think Ellis is the guy on the basketball team that’s fundamentally sound [and] knows how to play. He’s a well-conditioned athlete,” Pitino said. “He made big plays that helped us win today.”
Threes on back-to-back possessions from Ian Jackson and Hall, who led the team with 24 points apiece, put a jolt into the MSG crowd and cut the St. John’s deficit down to two. After Hall knocked down a pair of free throws, Ruben Prey turned a steal into an easy dunk, and the Red Storm found itself in front at 54-52 less than nine minutes into the second half.
St. John’s stretched its lead out to six points by starting the second half on a 30-6 run and appeared to be on the verge of pulling away, but the chaos was just beginning. After a stretch where they missed 18 of 19 field goal attempts, the Scarlet Knights were able to respond and regained the lead at 71-69 with less than a minute left in regulation. Ellis got involved as a scorer when it mattered most, working his way inside and finishing an up-and-under layup to tie the game at 71 and force the first overtime. When things were all said and done, Ellis ultimately played a whopping 56 minutes and finished with 13 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, four blocks and two steals.
“I think the more we play with each other, the more trust is going to come on both ends of the floor,” Ellis said. “That’s the key, to keep moving forward and to improve.”
In the opening minute of the first overtime, St. John’s suffered a blow when Prey picked up his fifth foul, leaving Reed Bailey to try and fill the duties at center for the remainder of the game. Prey, who has been assigned the near-impossible task of replacing Zuby Ejiofor as the Red Storm’s starting center, has struggled a bit to begin preseason play, with 14 points and just four rebounds across two games.
“I think Ruben is replacing somebody that can’t be replaced, and he is what he is,” Pitino said. “He, along with everybody else, did a lot of things tonight that were fundamentally wrong, and it cost him. But Ruben’s going to be steady.”
St. John’s had a couple of chances to win at the buzzer in the overtime periods, however, Ellis couldn’t get a corner three to fall for the win in the first overtime, and Jackson was unable to finish a contested layup in the second overtime. Following three overtimes where neither team built a multi-possession lead, the Red Storm finally built some separation in the fourth extra period, with Hall, Jackson and Ellis leading a 6-0 run to take a four-point lead. Those three players scored all the St. John’s points in the final overtime, as the Johnnies held onto the lead and closed out a rollercoaster win.
Falling behind by 20 points in their first game at MSG, albeit an exhibition, was a bit of a gut check for this new group, and they fought hard to pull off the victory. Having said that, Pitino knows this game comes with plenty to work on, as he once again highlighted the fundamentals that the team is currently lacking.
“There are so many mental mistakes,” Pitino said. “It’s just going to take time. There’s a bunch of guys that love to score and really don’t know how to play. And once they learn how to play together, once they learn how to play defense and rebound the basketball correctly, they’ll get much better.”
Perhaps the area that raises the most questions for St. John’s right now is rebounding, as Rutgers outrebounded the Red Storm in this game, 58-51, and beat them on the offensive glass, 18-11. Pitino made it clear that this, among other weaknesses, shows that the Red Storm has a lot of work to do before it can feel comfortable competing against the top teams in the country.
“We’re going to learn a lot from this,” Pitino said. “We have a long way to go. I’m not sure we’re going to be ready for the likes of Arizona or Las Vegas. But we just have to hold steady, win as many games as we can, because come January, we’ll be a much better basketball team.”
St. John’s will get a week off following this marathon game before taking on Texas at The Garden on Sunday, October 25, in the final game of the preseason.
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