St. John’s Wins Another; Hoyas Take Out Pirates
by Ray Floriani
NEW YORK – Entering Madison Square Garden about two hours prior to game time, I ran into St. John’s assistant Fred Quartlebaum and commended his team on Sunday’s win over Syracuse. “Thanks, but that’s behind us,” Quartlebaum said. “We’re only thinking about what lies ahead.”
He specifically referred to a battle with 20th-ranked Notre Dame. There is no time to celebrate Big East wins. At the final buzzer you may revel in the moment but minutes, maybe seconds later, the consciousness fast-forwards to the next opponent. The conference’s coaches will tell you none of those opponents are an easy out.
Notre Dame found that out as St. John’s made it two straight with a 71-68 win over the Fighting Irish. St. John’s enjoyed a lead of as much as 14 points with just over three minutes to go in the first half. Notre Dame then got three treys from the ever-dangerous Colin Falls just before the half to cut the lead to nine.
Notre Dame came out strong the second half largely due to the efforts of Russell Carter (32 points). The senior guard ignited the Irish attack that saw a 10-0 run to start the half and reclaim the lead. For the duration of the contest the two teams were relatively even.
With seconds remaining and the score tied, Lamont Hamilton received a pass in the post and immediately dished the ball to the corner. Larry Wright took the pass and the Red Storm freshman buried a three-pointer with nine seconds remaining. Carter came down and tried to answer with a three of his own, but his attempt rimmed at the buzzer.
It was St. John’s second straight Big East win and suddenly Norm Roberts’ club (12-8, 3-4 Big east) is flirting with the middle of the conference standings. Notre Dame fell to 16-3 (4-2 Big east).
The Irish have been a schizophrenic team in the early portion of conference play. They have been very strong at home and vulnerable out of South Bend. ND has defeated Louisville, West Virginia, Seton Hall and South Florida at home, but on the road they are now 0-3 in conference. Previous losses were at Georgetown and Villanova, both double-digit setbacks.
St. John’s enjoyed a great deal of success in the first half largely due to the efforts of Lamont Hamilton. The 6’10” senior was a force down low and Notre Dame struggled matching up with him. Hamilton scored 23 first-half points and was instrumental in allowing the Red Storm to lead most of the first twenty minutes.
In the second half, Irish coach Mike Brey made an adjustment. First Notre Dame tried to get a little more of a half court tempo and not get caught in a track meet. Secondly, in their zone the Irish made it a point to front Hamilton and make sure there was weak-side help to play behind him. Carter even dropped off from his guard spot, when the ball was on the other side of the floor, to lend a hand defending Hamilton. Given the defense and change in tempo, Hamilton didn’t score the second half. To his credit he didn’t force the issue when he got a touch and he threw a beautiful pass to Wright for the game-winner as defenders collapsed on him in the low post.
A fairly representative number of pro scouts were in the building to get a look at Carter. The 6’4″ senior can comfortably play a two or three spot but is projected as solely a two on the next level. Carter has a nice perimeter touch and the ability to get in the lane and finish.
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame’s 6’8″ freshman, is off to a very good start. Three times this season, Harangody has been selected Big East Rookie of the Week. Tuesday’s trip to MSG, though, was a night to forget. Harangody logged only 12 minutes scoring one point and pulling down three boards. As the late Al McGuire said, ‘the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores.”
Notre Dame guard Tory Jackson is no stranger to Wright and his outside shooting acumen, as both he and Wright are freshmen from Saginaw, Michigan. “Once he let it go I knew it was going in,” Jackson said of Wright. “He was like that in high school. He is confident in his shot.”
In the win over Syracuse 6’8″ forward Qa’rraan Calhoun had his best outing to date. The St. John’s freshman scored 10 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Calhoun’s showing goes a long way toward explaining how the Storm prevailed. Translated, as good as Hamilton is, he needs another big man to step up and produce. Calhoun was the man and St. John’s got a big win.
Notes from last Friday
Size matters. So does talent. Georgetown had both and defeated Seton Hall 74-58 at Continental Airlines Arena. The Hoyas scored 10 points over their first four possessions and got out to a fast double digit lead. Seton Hall kept challenging but could never get the deficit under ten. To their credit, the Pirates played hard in forcing 21 Georgetown turnovers, but could never make that significant run to pose a serious challenge.
The Hall was without the services of Grant Billmeier, who is out for the season. Billmeier suffered a knee injury in the early minutes of a win over Providence two days earlier. The 6’10” senior represents a veteran leader with the size to battle underneath, something that is especially valuable facing a team as Georgetown. Billmeier was never a priority scoring option but did clog the lane and battle for rebounds. His presence will be missed on what was already a relatively small Seton Hall squad. In his absence, John Garcia is doing a creditable job, but even Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez admits the 6’9″ redshirt freshman is not in top ‘game shape’.
Gonzalez is never one to make excuses, but did not the Hall was finishing a difficult eight days. “These are young players that can go for forty minutes each night,” Gonzalez said. “When I was at Manhattan we had Luis Flores out there all game, yet come March we played our best. But I do feel this has been a rough stretch with f our games in eight days. We didn’t have much in the tank (tonight).”
Georgetown enjoyed an eye popping 39-11 edge in rebounds. Hoya coach John Thompson III was asked if his club ever held an opponent to just 11 rebounds. “I can’t say I remember,” he said before lightly adding, “but when I was at Princeton I think we might have had a few 11-rebound nights.”
Georgetown’s 7’2″ center Roy Hibbert had a respectable 10-point, 5-rebound, 3-block night. Most of the damage was done by junior guard Jonathan Wallace (21 points) and freshman forward DaJuan Summers (17 points, 10 rebounds). “(Summers) is getting into a comfort level,” Thompson said. “He is understanding what the coaches and his teammates expect of him.”
Big East Player of the Week: Dominic James of Marquette. The sophomore guard hit the winning free throw in Marquette’s win at Pitt. Of greater significance was James’ line of zero turnovers in 39 minutes.
Rookie of the Week: Scottie Reynolds, Villanova. With all due respect to Kevin Durant, a marvelous talent, the best freshman on the floor last Saturday was ‘Nova’s Reynolds. The freshman guard scored 26 points and handed out 6 assists in the Wildcats’ upset win over Texas.
