St. John's University Athletics
Postgame Notes: St. John's 51, UMass 49
12/29/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2005
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- With the 51-49 win, St. John's wins its second straight Holiday Festival championship and 14th overall. The Red Storm allowed just 44.0 points per game in winning the 2005 title and allowed an average of 45.5 points per game over its back-to-back title wins.
- St. John's has dominated play in the first half of its last three Holiday Festival games, holding North Carolina State (13.0 percent), Columbia (28.0) and UMass (18.5) to a combined 20.0 percent shooting from the floor.
- Sophomore point guard Eugene Lawrence was named 2005 Panasonic Holiday Festival MVP after averaging 10.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in the team's two wins. Teammate Anthony Mason Jr., UMass forwards Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme, Saint Peter's guard Keydren Clark and Columbia guard Justin Armstrong all joined Lawrence on the All-Tournament Team.
- Lawrence continued his hot play of late, as he has averaged 10.5 points, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals in his last six games.
- St. John's and UMass exchanged runs to close the first half and open the second, with the Red Storm going on an 14-2 spurt to go into the half with a 27-14 lead and UMass closing the deficit to 27-25 with an 11-0 run to open the second.
- Six St. John's players had at least three field goals for the first time this season, and five players scored at least eight points. Lamont Hamilton led the Red Storm with 12 points, including four late free throws, as he recorded double-figure points for the eighth time in nine games.
- Hamilton also led a season-high tying shot blocking effort by the Red Storm, recording three of the team's eight blocked shots. Aaron Spears rejected a career-high two shots, and Cedric Jackson, Phil Missere and Dexter Gray each recorded one block.
- The Red Storm out-rebounded its 11th consecutive opponent to start the season and pulled down at least 10 offensive boards for the 10th time in 11 games. The starting backcourt of Jackson and Lawrence each had a game-high seven boards to lead the team.
- Jackson filled up the stat sheet for the second straight game, as he combined to average 5.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals in two Holiday Festival starts. Jackson has recorded steals in 10 of the team's 11 games this season, including at least two in three of his last four outings, and is second on the team with 16 steals (1.6 spg).
- For the second time in two games, Ryan Williams set a new season-high in assists, as he tied a career-high with three helpers tonight.
- Two of the team's top three assist totals of the season came in two Holiday Festival games, with the Red Storm following up a 20-assist effort against Columbia with 16 against UMass. In the two games, St. John's assisted on 36 of its 46 baskets and had 36 assists to just 29 turnovers.
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