St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Continues Season-Opening Week With Charleston Classic
11/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2012
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CHARLESTON, S.C. - Steve Lavin and his young St. John's basketball team (1-0) continue play in their four-game season-opening week with a visit to the 2012 DIRECTV Charleston Classic Presented by Foster Grant. The event, held Thursday, Friday and Sunday, Nov. 15, 16 and 18, at TD Arena in Charleston, S.C., pits the Red Storm against the host College of Charleston Cougars (1-0) in Thursday's opening round at 5:30 p.m. The contest airs nationally on ESPNU and via ESPN3, with Rich Hollenberg and Tim Welsh calling the action. The matchup can be heard live on the official radio flagship of St. John's Basketball, Bloomberg Radio 1130-AM, and on RedStormSports.com (subscription), with veteran play-by-play announcer John Minko and "The Coach" Tim O'Toole.
- Lavin returns in 2012-13 after posting a 2-2 record last season while making a full recovery from prostate cancer surgery (Oct. 6, 2011). Dr. Peter Scardino of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center placed Lavin on a modified schedule in 2011-12 that kept him off the sideline, enabling Lavin to better focus on a full recuperation, while simultaneously securing the No. 8 recruiting class in the nation per HoopScoop.com. St. John's 2012 recruiting class is comprised of eight standout student-athletes representing five countries. The highly-acclaimed group followed a 2011 class ranked No. 3 nationally by ESPN.
- Thursday marks the first-ever meeting between the College of Charleston and the Red Storm, but the two schools are not without intimate ties. Charleston legend John Kresse was a St. John's walk-on-turned-letterwinner in 1961-62 and 1962-63 and went on to serve as an assistant on Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca's staff for 14 years. Kresse met with Lavin and addressed the St. John's team on Wednesday before practice.
- D'Angelo Harrison came off the bench to score a game-high 22 points, Phil Greene IV scored a career-high 20 points and Chris Obekpa broke a school-record with eight blocks as St. John's rallied late to defeat Detroit, 77-74, to open the 2012-13 season on Tuesday. Harrison scored 13 of his 22 points in the final 8:24 and finished 7-of-17 from the field. Amir Garrett (6-of-8 FGs) posted his first-career double-double with a 15-point, 11-rebound effort for St. John's, which fired at a 57.1 percent clip in the second half. St. John's erased a seven-point deficit midway through the second half with a 16-4 run that spanned nearly eight minutes and also made 9-of-10 free down the stretch to hang on for the victory.
- St. John's looks to improve upon a 2-10 road record from the 2011-12 season, all played without Lavin. In Lavin's first year with the Red Storm in 2010-11, STJ was 5-7 on the road.
Storm Tracker
- Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team selection D'Angelo Harrison is St. John's top returning scorer, having averaged 17.0 points per game in his inaugural campaign while setting a new Red Storm freshman scoring record with 544 points. The sophomore sharpshooter, who was a BIG EAST All-Rookie selection and a MBWA Second Team honoree a season ago, also established a new St. John's single-season 3-point record with 76 treys. His 2.72 made 3-pointers per BIG EAST contest tied for first with Bryce Cotton of Providence and his .402 mark from long-distance in league contests ranked fifth in the BIG EAST.
- Sophomore swingman Amir Garrett joined the Red Storm team on Dec. 21, 2011, and appeared in 22 games as a freshman, closing out the season with 14-straight starts as part of the "Fresh Five" of 2011-12. Garrett posted a 7.4 ppg scoring average and spent the offseason in professional baseball as a left-handed pitcher within the Cincinnati Reds minor league system. He led the Red Storm in scoring with 16.0 ppg across STJ's two exhibitions, shooting a team-best .684 from the field.
- Second-year combo guard Phil Greene IV contributed 7.6 ppg as a freshman, good for fifth on the squad. The first-time point guard led the team in assists with 95, an average of 3.0 per game. His 3.72 assists per BIG EAST contest ranked 15th among all conference players and he finished the conference season with a 1.76 assist-to-turnover ratio, good for 11th in the BIG EAST.
- Motor City sophomore Sir'Dominic Pointer averaged 6.6 ppg and his 4.6 rebounds per game average ranked fourth on the team. The Red Storm's best on-ball defender tied for first among Red Storm players and 13th in the BIG EAST with a 1.6 steals per game average, while his 1.8 steals per league contest led the squad and ranked sixth among league leaders.
- Once the No. 31 overall prospect in the Class of 2011, the dynamic JaKarr Sampson returned to Red Storm after being named the NEPSAC AAA Player of the Year in 2012. He has begun to display his prowess on both ends of the floor, with a 14.5 ppg and 7.0 rpg in the preseason to go along with a pair of SportsCenter Top 10 dunks.
- The final member of Lavin's eight-man recruiting class, freshman Christian Jones has been the surprise of the preseason. He played one postgraduate year for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., averaging 12.0 points and 5.0 rebounds. In the preseason he averaged 12.5 ppg on .667 shooting with 8.5 rebounds.
- A game-changing shotblocker who craves defense, 6-9 Chris Obekpa averaged 12.0 points per game, 13.0 rebounds and 9.0 blocks per game as a senior at Our Savior New American on Long Island. The Nigerian native with the 7-5 wingspan led STJ a game-high tying 11 boards and a school-record eight blocked shots in the Red Storm opening win vs. Detroit.
- Athletic wing Felix Balamou will likely see game action in the Charleston Classic. He has yet to see game action as Lavin and staff were considering a redshirt season.
- JUCO transfers Orlando Sanchez and Marc-Antoine Bourgault will not participate in Tuesday's home opener as both await separate eligibility rulings from the NCAA regarding classification. Texas A&M transfer Jamal Branch is eligible for game participation as early as Dec. 16, 2012. Harvard transfer Max Hooper is eligible for game participation in 2013-14 season. All are eligible to participate in team activities, including practices and scrimmages.
- Senior big man God'sgift Achiuwa, who averaged 9.5 ppg and 5.6 rpg in his JUCO transfer year in 2011-12, is in consideration for a redshirt season and may not see game action. Achiuwa, a member of St. John's University's prestigious President's Society, is on track to graduate with a degree in administrative studies and could complete Master's degree requirements by the end of his 2013-14 redshirt season.
On Deck
- The Red Storm continues play in the 2012 DIRECTV Charleston Classic Presented by Foster Grant, held Thursday, Friday and Sunday, Nov. 15, 16 and 18, at TD Arena in Charleston, S.C. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracket-tournament format. St. John's faces either Murray State or Auburn Friday at 5:30 or 7:30 p.m. on ESPN3.
Scouting the Cougars
- College of Charleston comes into Thursday's matchup at 1-0 on the young season with a season opening 75-58 win over Towson on Nov. 10. The Cougars are coming off a 2011-12 campaign in which they went 19-12 and were picked by the Southern Conference coaches to finish second in the south division for 2012-13.
- Senior guard Andrew Lawrence and junior forward Trent Wiedeman are the on-court leaders for CoC as both were named to the Preseason All-Southern Conference team. Lawrence was named one of the top-30 under-the-radar players to watch by CBS Sports prior to the season, and the outlet listed him as one of the top-50 point guards in the country. In addition, Lawrence was named one of 30 candidates for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award.
- Doug Wojcik is in his first year as the head coach of the Cougars after spending seven years as the head coach at Tulsa. While at the helm of the Golden Hurricane, Wojcik won 60 percent of his game, averaging 20 wins per year and amassing 140 total wins, the most in program history.
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