St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Illinois St
Valiant Comeback Falls Short at Illinois State
12/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2004
Normal, IL - Illinois State held off a late run by St. John's and knocked down four free throws with under 15 seconds to play to give the Redbirds a 77-69 at Redbird Arena in front of 8,044 fans.
The Redbirds led by 13 points at the half and extended the lead to 17 points, 60-43, on a pair of free throws from Lorenzo Gordon with 10:55 left to play. They maintained that lead for the next three minutes, taking a 67-50 lead on a Gregg Alexander three-pointer with 7:55 left in the game.
St. John's, however, (2-3) countered and outscored Illinois State 19-5 over the next six minutes - with junior Ryan Williams scoring five points and freshman Eugene Lawrence hitting a pair of three-pointers - to cut the margin to four points, 73-69, with a minute to play.
That was the closest they would get as Alexander and Gordon (22 points, six rebounds) hit four straight free throws to seal the win.
After St. John's scored to open the game, the Redbirds never trailed in the first half. Neil Plank (14 points, three rebounds) came off the bench and sparked a 20-8 run starting at the 10:58 mark. Gordon tossed in 12 points during the run, swelling the Illinois State lead to 35-19 with 4:27 left in the half.
Daryll Hill led the Red Storm with 22 points and seven assists. Lawrence chipped in with 14 in his first start of the season, while Williams, also getting his first start for Rodney Epperson who fell ill prior to the game, scored 11 points and pulled down nine rebounds in a losing effort.
"Eugene and Ryan gave us a great lift tonight," first year St. John's head coach Norm Roberts said. "We played hard and the effort was there. We have to do a better job defensively in the post. That hurt us tonight and he (Gordon) did a good job of getting to the foul line on us."
Lamont Hamilton had a strong game in the middle for SJU as well netting 13 points and finishing with eight rebounds. Hamilton had a layup rim out on a two-on-one fast break with 28 seconds left that could have cut the lead to two at 73-71.
Illinois State connected on 17 of 28 free throws while St. John's got to the line just five times converting three from the charity stripe for the game.
St. John's returns to action on Wednesday, December 8 when they host Virginia Tech at the newly named Carnesecca Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
