St. John's University Athletics
BIG EAST Celebrates St. John's 1986 Conference Championship Today
2/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
As part of the BIG EAST???s 25-year anniversary of its men???s basketball championship tournament at Madison Square Garden, the conference is paying tribute to its titlewinners on the official BIG EAST website, BIGEAST.org. St. John???s fans can check out video highlights of their team???s legendary 1986 tournament run by clicking here.
A year after St. John???s second-ever appearance in the NCAA Final Four, if anyone was searching for ???The Truth,??? they found it.
In just his second season at St. John???s, Walter ???The Truth??? Berry earned national player of the year honors ??? the second straight year a St. John???s player had done so, as Chris Mullin took the award during the 1984-85 campaign ??? and led the team to a 31-5 record and the 1986 BIG EAST Tournament Championship.
Berry had, perhaps, the best single season ever in St. John???s history in 1985-86, averaging 23.0 points and 11.1 rebounds, while earning award upon award. He was selected as the recipient of the John Wooden Award as the nation???s top college player, the Adolph R. Rupp Trophy, the Associated Press??? honor, and was the Kodak Player of the Year from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He scored a still-intact St. John???s record 828 points that season and grabbed 399 rebounds, which ranks as the fifth-best single season mark.
The starting five that season ??? Berry, Ron Rowan, Willie Glass, Mark Jackson and Shelton Jones ??? ranks among the best in school history. They started every game and accounted for 86 percent of the minutes played, but had outstanding play from reserves like Marco Baldi, Terry Bross, Steve Shurina and John Hempel. Rowan finished the season second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.2 points and 4.4 assists; Glass averaged 13.3 points and 5.6 rebounds; Jackson added 11.3 points and a school record 9.1 assists; and Jones averaged 8.5 points and 5.7 rebounds.
The Redmen had rolled through the regular season, the only blemish a loss to Duke (71-70) in the Big Apple NIT semifinals. They lost only two conference games ??? to Boston College and Syracuse ??? by a combined total of six points and finished the regular season tied for first with a 14-2 mark.
And while Berry was the leader of the team, it was Rowan who came through in the Redmen???s biggest moment, sinking a 14-foot baseline jumper with eight seconds left and giving St. John???s its first lead of the game at 70-69, in a win over Syracuse in the BIG EAST Championship. Berry blocked Dwayne ???Pearl??? Washington???s shot at the buzzer as St. John???s won the second of its three BIG EAST Tournament titles.
