St. John's University Athletics
Glover Three-Point Play Lifts SJU Past Kentucky
11/10/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Red Storm will play seventh-ranked Kansas, which beat 17th-ranked UCLA, in the championship game on Friday at 9 p.m. The Wildcats will meet the Bruins in the consolation game at 6:30 p.m.
For Glover, making big shots at Madison Square Garden is becoming a habit. Last year, he hit a pair of free throws to lift St. Johns past Miami in the 2000 BIG EAST Tournament semifinals.
The game remained close during most of the second half, but Kentucky was able to open up a 47-41 lead on a layup by Marvin Stone with 9:07 left to play. Cook, who scored 14 points in the first half, pulled up midway through the second half and left the game with leg cramps. He returned just over a minute later, at the 9:31 mark, and St. John's proceeded to pull within three points, 51-48, on a pair of free throws by Glover. Kentucky, however, scored five straight points, taking a 56-47 lead on a Marquis Estill layin with 5:15 to play. A Glover layup pulled SJU within five points and a free throw from junior Sharif Fordham (Far Rockaway, N.Y./Milford Academy) pulled SJU to within four points, 56-52. After forcing a UK turnover, Cook threaded a pass to a driving Reggie Jessie for the layup. Jessie missed the free throw, but Fordham grabbed the rebound and Glover pounded his away inside for the tie, 56-all, with just over three minutes left.
It appeared that Kentucky would walk away with the win when they went up 61-57 with 22.6 seconds left, but Marvin Stone missed two free throws and Red Storm raced downcourt, where Glover slammed it home to make it a two-point game. The Wildcats committed their 25th turnover of the game on the inbound pass and, after using their final timeout, Cook found Glover underneath the basket for the win.
In the first half, St. John's jumped out to a five point lead, 16-11, on back-to-back three-pointers from the left side of the court by Cook. Kentucky, however, pounded the glass, tied the game on a Tayshaun Prince dunk and took a 28-23 lead with 3:25 remaining on a dunk by Jason Parker. A three-pointer by Cook and a bank by Glover made it a 31-28 game at the break.
Glover finished with a game-high 21 points, 17 in the second half, while Cook added 18 points and five assists in his first game. Senior forward Reggie Jessie (Queensbridge, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) and freshman forward Kyle Cuffe (Bronx, N.Y./Rice) each scored nine points for St. John's.
St. Johns connected on 41.4 percent of its shots from the field (24-of-58), 45.0 percent of its free throws (9-of-20) and 29.4 percent of its three-pointers (5-of-17). Kentucky controlled the boards, outrebounding St. Johns, 42-32.
