St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
No. 17/15 North Carolina State
St. John's Upsets No. 17 NC State, 63-45
12/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2004
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - It felt like the old days in Madison Square Garden for St. John's.
The Red Storm, a program going through the worst two years in the school's 90-plus seasons of basketball, had fans thinking of the glory days Thursday night with a 63-45 thrashing of No. 17 North Carolina State in the championship game of the Holiday Festival.
It was St. John's 39th appearance in the annual tournament, and this was the 13th title - the last coming in 1996.
This win was as dominant as any in the days of Sonny Dove, Chris Mullin or Malik Sealy. The Red Storm (6-4) led 27-10 at halftime and pulled away by holding the Wolfpack (10-2) without a field goal for a 14-minute stretch.
When Cedric Simmons finally scored with 13:05 to play, it brought North Carolina State within 39-14. The last previous field goal came with 7:02 to play in the first half and that 3-pointer by Cameron Bennerman ended a 7:20 scoreless drought for the Wolfpack.
Daryll Hill had 19 points for the Red Storm and was selected the tournament's MVP, while Eugene Lawrence had 10 points and seven rebounds.
While it seemed everyone was scoring for St. John's, nobody could find the basket for North Carolina State.
Julius Hodge, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year and a former New York City high school star, went 0-for-6 from the field in the first half and missed two more shots before getting his first field goal on a dunk with 11:13 to go. That made it 42-18 and cut into St. John's biggest lead of the game.
Hodge finished with 19 points on 7-for-21 shooting for the Wolfpack, who never got closer than 16 in the second half.
St. John's fired coach Mike Jarvis last December, just six games into the season. The Red Storm went on to a 6-21 season, the worst in school history, including a 1-15 mark in the Big East.
The program was rocked in February when six players were suspended from the program over a curfew-breaking visit to a Pittsburgh-area strip club.
Last month, the school imposed two years' of penalties on the program after an investigation revealed a former player was given cash by an athletic department employee. The penalties include a postseason ban for 2004-05 and the loss of a scholarship this season and next. The NCAA has yet to complete its investigation of the matter.
On Monday, junior Rodney Epperson, the team's second-leading scorer with a 14.1 average, was suspended indefinitely pending a review of his transfer from a junior college during the 2002-03 school year.
None of that mattered as the clock wound down and the crowd cheered as each starter was taken out of the game by first-year coach Norm Roberts.
This was the Red Storm's first win over a ranked team since a 72-71 victory over No. 6 Duke on March 2, 2003, at Madison Square Garden.
North Carolina State came in averaging 80.9 points per game and its average lead at halftime this season was 38-26.
The Wolfpack shot 13 percent in the first half (3-for-23) and finished at 20 percent for the game (13-for-65), including 2-for-24 from 3-point range.
This was North Carolina's fewest points in a game since a 59-42 loss at Clemson on Jan. 27, 2000. The Wolfpack's lowest total this season came in a 60-53 win over Purdue.
The tournament is sponsored by Dreyfus.
