St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Rutgers
St. John's 53, Rutgers 52
2/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 2, 2005
NEW YORK (AP) - Lamont Hamilton scored 16 points, including the game-winner with 5.5 seconds left, and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to lead St. John's to a 53-52 victory over Rutgers on Wednesday night.
The Red Storm (8-10, 2-6 Big East) shot a season-worst 26.6 percent from the field (17-for-64) but still snapped a three-game losing streak. They doubled their conference win total from last season when they went a school-worst 6-21, including 1-15 in the league.
Hamilton, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, scored the last six points of the game for St. John's. His two free throws with 2:46 left gave the Red Storm a 49-48 lead. Ollie Bailey scored down low on consecutive possessions to give the Scarlet Knights (7-11, 1-7) a 52-49 lead with 44 seconds to go.
Hamilton made two free throws with 24 seconds left and Cedric Jackson stole the ball on the next possession for St. John's, but Eugene Lawrence's layup was blocked out of bounds. Daryll Hill missed a drive but Hamilton grabbed the rebound and scored with 5.5 seconds left.
Quincy Douby got off a last-second 3-point attempt from straight on for Rutgers, but it spun about three-quarters of the way around the rim before coming out.
On Jan. 24, Douby's 3-point attempt from the right side at the buzzer touched about 90 percent of the rim before coming out and Rutgers lost 86-84 to then-No. 4 Syracuse. That game, when the Scarlet Knights held an 18-point halftime lead, was the second of their current four-game losing streak.
Hill, who was coming off the worst game of his career, added 14 points for St. John's, while Lawrence had 10. Hill, a sophomore who leads St. John's and is third in the Big East in scoring with a 20-point average, had six points on 3-for-15 shooting in a loss to Seton Hall last Saturday.
Bailey had 13 points for Rutgers, while Ricky Shields had 11.
The Red Storm trailed 35-25 with 12:48 to go when they had their lone hot streak. After missing 14 of their first 17 3-point attempts, the Red Storm made four of their five from beyond the arc in a 16-2 run that gave them a 41-37 lead with 7:12 to play.
St. John's had only shot worse than 40 percent twice this season, 37.7 in a loss to St. Francis, N.Y., in the second game of the season, and 33.3 in the loss to Seton Hall.
The Red Storm, who have won nine of 10 against Rutgers, finished with a 51-33 rebound advantage, including 23-8 on the offensive end.
