After five straight losses, leaving them at 2-8 in the Big East, The St. Johns Red Storm came out with energy in the first half and made sure they didn't render it in the second. Aggressive defense and smart offensive work by the whole team helped The Red Storm men beat down Big East foe The Louisville Cardinals 74-55 at Madison Square Garden last night.
In the first half we as spectators saw what we have seen all year around in the first half from St. Johns. A strong 20 minute, well rounded and focused team. Samardo Samuels seemed to be the only man St. Johns could not stop in the first half allowing him to score Louisville's first 10 points in the game. He would only finish with 18 which shows you how good the defense did in reacting to their only problem on the night.
What stood out the most to me was their consistency and smart ball movement as well as their ability to maintain their lead through the whole second half. St. Johns has blown 6 half times leads this season, most recently to West Virgina this past Saturday at the Garden. But last night everyone stepped into their roles at different parts of the game which made it difficult for The Cardinals to keep up or defend one single player.
Justin Burrell was again a big time show for this team. Scoring 14 points which racks up his total to 5 out of the past 7 games in double digit scoring and grabbing 8 rebounds. All of this coming off the bench which has been something he wants to continue doing according to Coach Norm Roberts. The obvious scoring leader for St. Johns was D.J. Kennedy who scored 15 points hitting 9-10 free throws on a night where St. Johns shot a superb 77.8% from the line. "We got to build on this" is what Kennedy exclaimed after the game to reporters and that is definitely something they must do.
But there is one player I want to give a lot of credit to and that is Malik Boothe. Boothe is the starting point guard for this team and the floor general. He isn't going to be the one that scores a lot of points or dish out a bunch of assist but more of the guy that gets his teammates going. Last night though Malik Boothe scored 8 points, going 3-4 from the field as well as 2-2 from the line. He added 3 assist and 3 steals and really seemed determined to get into the paint. There were a bunch of times while he was driving where he was jabbed in the eye and at one point you'd figure he'd put some goggles on just to avoid another incident but he didn't. He showed his toughness and strong pursuit in helping this team get a victory which was definitely much needed.
All around this game was a solid effort. Norm Roberts said " I thought we made big plays, not shots, but plays at the gut of the game." That coach is something I will agree with you there. I never saw more and-one plays from St. Johns this season then last night. They were persistent in getting in the paint and muscling their defender down. St. Johns usually a good three point shooting team, really went away from it and took the game to the paint.
This was a great victory but the road isn't going to be easy here on out. Next up St. Johns travels to the home of The Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday to prove that this win last night wasn't just a win...It was a step into the right direction for a team that many have turned their backs to.
Follow me at (TCaspDeez) for more St. Johns info and other college basketball insight.
Thank you to ESPN for all the stats from last nights game and The New York Post for the picture
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