St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
14-7, 3-5
Providence
16-6, 6-3
St. John's Downs Providence, 75-66
1/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score | Notes | Press Conference Video | Photo Gallery 
NEW YORK - Sir'Dominic Pointer scored a team-high 20 points to lift St. John's (14-7, 3-5) to a 75-66 victory over Providence (16-6, 6-3) on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Phil Greene IV added 16 points and D'Angelo Harrison had 15 points as the Red Storm completed a regular-season sweep of the Friars.
Rysheed Jordan led the St. John's bench with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while Chris Obekpa anchored the Red Storm's rebounding efforts with a game-high 10 boards to go with eight points and six blocks. St. John's outrebounded its opponent for the second-straight contest, 37-34.
"I'm proud of our team for delivering a hard-fought victory against the first-place team in our league," said St. John's head coach Steve Lavin. "I thought we sustained a high level of effort today. We knew Providence was going to make a run because they are a good team, but we managed to execute on both ends of the floor down the stretch in order to win this game."
Pointer put an exclamation point on a 54.5 percent (18-of-33 FG) Red Storm shooting effort in the first half draining his first 3-pointer of the season at the buzzer to send St. John's into the locker room with a 12-point advantage. The Red Storm led the entire second half, and when the Friars pulled within two points at the 6:54 mark St. John's answered with the next 10 points.
Harrison buried two 3-pointers that were sandwiched around Jordan's jumper to reopen a double-digit advantage. Then with 3:56 left in regulation, Pointer drained two free-throws to push the Red Storm out to a 69-57 lead. Pointer finished 7-of-8 at the free-throw line and he was 6-of-10 from the field in his sixth-straight double-figure scoring performance.
"Overall, that was the key offensive sequence today," said Lavin. "Our ability to be aggressive but still use clock helped us put distance between us and Providence after they had made their run. I'm very pleased with our execution over the last four minutes of the game as we salted this victory away."
Jordan scored nine of his 14 points in the first half and sank his first four field goal attempts. Jordan and Pointer combined to shoot 8-for-10 from the field in the opening stanza.
Kris Dunn led Providence with a game-high 23 points hitting 10-of-16 field goal attempts, but the Red Storm limited the BIG EAST's leading scorer LaDontae Henton to a 2-for-14 shooting performance. Henton, who entered the contest averaging 21.2 points per game, scored nine of his 13 points at the free-throw line.
Coming off three straight double-doubles, Pointer continued his superb all around play on Saturday leading the Red Storm in assists for the fourth-straight game with five helpers. He also finished with seven rebounds. Harrison scored double-figures for the 10th straight game and 20th time in 21 appearances this year. He came up three points shy of reaching the 2,000-point plateau.
"All along I've really liked this basketball team," said Lavin. "From our 11-1 start to where we are now. I've never come off being bold on what a special group this is. Independent of a particular outcome of a game, I like the character, makeup and fiber of this team."
St. John's returns to the hardwood on Tuesday at Butler. The Red Storm and Bulldogs square off at 7 p.m. in a national telecast from Hinkle Fieldhouse on FOX Sports 1.
