St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
11-14, 5-7BE
No. 4/4 Villanova
22-2, 9-2BE
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. John's | 28 | 51 | 79 |
| Villanova | 46 | 46 | 92 |
St. John's Falls to Villanova, 92-79
2/4/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Final Stats | Quotes | USATSI photo gallery 
PHILADELPHIA - The defending national champions shot 52 percent from the floor and St. John's failed to overcome early shooting woes, as Villanova downed the Red Storm, 92-79, at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night.
Marcus LoVett led the way for the Red Storm in the loss, netting 23 points, dishing out a game-high six assists and recording four steals. The effort marked the freshman's ninth this season with at least 20 points in a contest.
Despite fouling out after just 25 minutes of action, Bashir Ahmed reached double figures for the ninth-straight game, finishing with 15 points. The Bronx native added a team-high seven rebounds.
Shamorie Ponds and Federico Mussini also reached double figures for the Johnnies, scoring 15 and 11 points, respectively. With two made triples in the game, Ponds bumped his season-long total in that category to 62, moving him past Paris Horne (61- 2008-09) and into a tie with Dwight Hardy (62 - 2010-11) for ninth in the Red Storm's single-season record book.
With 10 made 3-pointers on the night, St. John's increased its season-long total to 231, passing the program's single season record in just 25 games. The Elite Eight squad of 1998-99 set the previous high-water mark, needing 37 games to sink 226 triples.
As a team, the Red Storm forced 23 Villanova turnovers, a season-high for the Wildcats in that category.
The Red Storm displayed difficulty finding the bottom of the bucket in the early going, going 0-of-11 from the field to start the game and falling behind 24-5 after 10-straight Villanova points from Donte DiVincenzo.
The Johnnies did not record their first points until the 12:34 mark of the opening half.
After trailing by as many as 26, 42-16, with 3:42 remaining the opening stanza, the Red Storm closed the half on a 12-4 run, cutting the deficit to 18 by the time the buzzer sounded.
The Red Storm shot just 11-of-34 in the first half, good enough for 32.4 percent, while Villanova sank 14 of its 29 attempts from the floor (48.3 pct).
The Johnnies opened the latter stanza with a 7-0 run, as LoVett kicked off the half with a jumper before Ahmed added a triple and a tip-in all in the first 79 seconds of the period.
Just over two minutes later, the Red Storm shaved the Villanova lead down to single digits for the first time since the 12:13 mark of the first half, as an Ahmed jumper pulled the Johnnies within nine, 48-39, with 16:18 to play.
With the Red Storm trailing by that same nine-point margin following a Mussini triple just over 30 seconds later, the Wildcats unleashed a 15-4 run, moving back ahead by 20, 66-46, with 11:11 on the clock.
After trailing by as many as 24, 80-56, with 5:26 to play the Johnnies put forth one final push, outscoring the Wildcats 22-7 over the next 4:40 and cutting the lead to just nine, 87-78, with 46 seconds to play.
St. John's will enjoy a full week off before its next contest, as the Red Storm will host local rival Seton Hall on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 12 p.m. inside "The World's Most Famous Arena."
