Ponds Keys St. John’s Past Cal, 82-79

Monday, November 19

Brooklyn, N.Y. (Barclays Center)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

4-0

California

1-2

St. John's

California

11/19/2018 10:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Brooklyn native nets 32 points in Legends Classic semifinal at Barclays Center

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Playing in his home borough for just the second time as a member of the Red Storm, Shamorie Ponds put on a performance for the ages. The junior guard scored 32 points, leading the St. John's men's basketball team to an 82-79 win over California at Barclays Center in the opening game of the GotPrint.com Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper.

Ponds scored 16 points in each half, with all 16 of his second-period points coming in the final seven minutes of the contest. The junior guard's effort marked his seventh career 30-point showing and his 30th time in 67 career games cracking the 20-point plateau. Ponds did not miss a shot inside the three-point line, going 11-of-15 from the floor, 3-for-7 from deep and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. The BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year also dished out a game-high five assists and surrendered no turnovers.

As a team, St. John's shot 55 percent from the floor (29-of-53) and sank 16 of its 19 free-throw attempts. In the latter half, the Johnnies converted on 15 of their 16 tries from the line.

With the win, the Red Storm improved to 4-0 for the second-straight season and earned a date in tomorrow's championship game at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of the evening's other semifinal between VCU and Temple on ESPN2. The last time the Johnnies began consecutive campaigns with four wins in a row came in 1983-84 and 1984-85.

Three other Johnnies finished the game in double figures, led by Mustapha Heron with 13 points of 5-of-10 shooting to go along with four assists. LJ Figueroa made four of his five shot attempts, including a 2-of-3 effort from deep, to finish with an efficient 12 points. Marvin Clark II added 10 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds in addition to registering a pair of blocks.

Justin Simon tallied eight points, seven rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes. Mikey Dixon chipped in seven points, all of which came in the first half.

Cal refused to miss in the early going, making its first six tries from the floor. St. John's did well to hang with the hot-handed Golden Bears, trailing by just four, 13-9, at the game's first media timeout.

The Johnnies took their first lead of the game, 14-13, following a Dixon three-ball to cap an 8-0 run, but Cal quickly regained the advantage and moved ahead by as many as six over the next few minutes.

Trailing 25-20 with seven minutes to play in the period, the Johnnies uncorked a 12-0 run to open their largest lead of the half, 32-25, with 3:00 to go. Ponds led the way with eight points on the tear while the Red Storm forced five-straight misses from the Golden Bears on the defensive end.

Leading by that same seven-point margin, 38-31, at the intermission, the Johnnies saw Cal climb within one, 40-39, before Clark nailed back-to-back threes to bump the Red Storm advantage back to seven, 46-39, with three and a half minutes gone in the half.

Cal tied the game at 48 with a 9-2 run before retaking the lead, 53-52, on a McNeil three with 10:30 to play. The Golden Bears continued to convert, moving ahead by as many as seven, 65-58, with just over seven minutes to go.

On the Johnnies' next trip down the floor, Ponds kickstarted things with a jumper in traffic, pulling the Red Storm back within five. Cal connected on another bucket on the following possession, but Ponds responded again, making a high arcing floater over 7-foot-3 Connor Vanover before draining a three ball from the top of the key to pull his team within two, 67-65.

Following a 1-for-2 trip to the line for Cal's Paris Austin, Figueroa sank a pair from the charity stripe to pull St. John's within one, 68-67, with 4:40 to play.

After a steal from Ponds, the Johnnies came down the floor and missed two three-point attempts. Luckily for the Red Storm, Simon came up big on each occasion, grabbing two offensive boards before making a bucket through contact and putting the Johnnies on top, 69-68, for the first time in nearly eight minutes.

The two teams traded leads four times over the next 90 seconds before a Juhwan Harris-Dyson layup pulled Cal within one, 75-74, with 1:38 to go.

The entire building knew who would be taking the shot for St. John's, but there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. Ponds confidently pulled up from 30-feet, draining the bucket and making it a two-possession game in favor of the Red Storm.

The Johnnies sank all four of their free throw attempts in the closing minute, sealing the victory and clinching a spot in tomorrow's championship game.