St. John's University Athletics
Hatten Steals Game as St. John's Defeats Texas Tech
4/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
With 16.2 seconds remaining, Hatten stole the ball from Texas Tech's Will Chavis and converted a layup at the other end of the court to give St. John's a thrilling 64-63 come-from-behind victory over Texas Tech in the NIT semifinals Tuesday night. The Red Storm held on in the closing seconds after Hatten missed two free throws with 4.1 seconds left.
Texas Tech got the ball back with 2.9 on the clock, and Chavis missed a 3-pointer off the rim as the buzzer sounded, sending the St. John's fans storming onto the Madison Square Garden court.
The hometown Red Storm (20-13) advance to play Big East rival Georgetown in the NIT championship on Thursday night. St. John's, making its first NIT appearance since 1995, has won an NIT-record five championships, the last one in 1989.
Texas Tech (21-13) and Knight will face Minnesota in the consolation game. This is Knight's eighth trip to the NIT, and his first since 1985. He made four appearances with Army and three with Indiana, and on Monday he talked about how much respect he had for this tournament.
Hatten led the Red Storm with 24 points and five steals. Freshman Elijah Ingram (East Orange, N.J.) added 16 points, including 3-of-6 from three-point range, a team-high six rebounds and five assists.
Andre Emmett led Texas Tech with 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Kasib Powell added 19 points.
Until Hatten's steal, it looked as if Knight and the Red Raiders would get to the championship game. Robert Tomaszek made a layup with 1:30 remaining to give Texas Tech a 63-62 lead. After Hatten threw the ball out of bounds, Tech tried to use up some of the clock on its possession.
After a kicked ball was called on St. John's and the shot clock was reset, the Red Raiders again tried to run the clock down before taking a shot. But that's when Hatten stepped in and made his crucial play.
The game went back and forth throughout. Texas Tech opened a 57-47 lead with a little over seven minutes to play after an 11-4 run. But the Red Storm came charging back with a 15-2 run of their own to take a 62-59 lead.
During the run, Ingram scored eight straight points, including a 3-pointer that tied the game at 59. Five of the St. John's points came off turnovers. After Ingram's three, Emmett was called for a charge, and Hatten hit a 3-pointer to give St. John's the lead.
The Red Raiders led 31-28 at halftime behind Emmett and Powell, who combined for 19 points. Chavis hit a 3-pointer with just over a minute left in the half to give Texas Tech the lead going into the break.
Hatten led St. John's with 12 points in the first half, guiding the Red Storm as he has all season. Neither team led by more than five during the half. St. John's had a 26-21 lead with a little less than four minutes to play, but Powell and Chavis combined to score Texas Tech's final 10 points to bring the Red Raiders back.
For the game, Texas Tech outrebounded St. John's 26-16 and made 12 of its 14 free throws. But the Red Storm scored 22 points off 20 turnovers by the Red Raiders and controlled the offensive boards for 18 second chance points.
St. John's earned its 37th 20-win season with the victory and Mike Jarvis has now won 20 or more games in 10 of his 18 years as a head coach.
