Late Seton Hall Surge Sinks St. John’s, 76-74

Saturday, December 29

Newark, N.J. (Prudential Center)

8:30 p.m.

St. John's University

12-1

Seton Hall

10-3

St. John's

Seton Hall

12/29/2018 11:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Pirates outscored the Red Storm 24-10 over the final nine minutes

After trailing for nearly 40 minutes of game action, Seton Hall took its first lead of the game in the final minute before a last-second three gave the Pirates a 76-74 victory over St. John's on Saturday night at Prudential Center.

St. John's (12-1) suffered its first loss of the season following an eventful finish to the contest. After missing consecutive front ends of a 1-and-1 and leading by one, 74-73, St. John's saw LJ Figueroa swat a Myles Powell layup into the stands with 3.9 seconds remaining. On the ensuing inbound, Figueroa appeared to steal the ball while sailing toward the seats and saving it back into play before hitting the ground. He was ruled out of bounds. After several minutes of review for what the BIG EAST described as a "timing error," Seton Hall (10-3) retained possession with 3.1 seconds on the clock. Shavar Reyonds then made a triple as time expired, giving Seton Hall the victory.

The Red Storm had made 15 of its first 16 free throw attempts on the game before missing those back-to-back chances.

Mustapha Heron led St. John's with 19 points on the evening, sinking four of his eight tries from beyond the arc. The junior guard from Waterbury, Conn., also recorded three steals.

Marvin Clark II and Justin Simon finished with 16 points apiece. Clark hit five of his seven field goal attempts, including a 3-for-5 showing from three-point range, and collected five rebounds. Simon dished out four assists, collected two steals and grabbed three boards.

Shamorie Ponds tallied eight points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals in 38 minutes of action. LJ Figueroa also added eight points in addition to seven rebounds and a pair of steals.

The Red Storm showed no signs of rust out of the gate, sinking its first five shot attempts, three of which came from beyond the arc, to take a 13-2 lead less than three minutes into the contest. The Johnnies assisted on all five of those field goals with Ponds tallying four of those dimes. Heron sank a pair of triples on the game-opening run, while Figueroa added a pair of driving buckets inside.

Seton Hall started to claw back, pulling within four, 24-20, following five unanswered with just over 10 minutes to go in the half. The Johnnies responded with seven-straight of their own, bumping their lead back to double digits following a Bryan Trimble Jr. three and back-to-back buckets from Simon.

After leading by as many as 14, St. John's saw Seton Hall score four-straight and trim its deficit to single digits in the closing minute of the first half. The Johnnies entered the locker room ahead by nine, 45-36.

The two teams traded blows to start the second half, with the Red Storm's nine-point halftime lead never swinging by more than two points in either direction over the first nine and a half minutes. With his team leading by seven, 59-52, near the midway mark of the period, Ponds scored five straight for the Johnnies, draining a long trey and sinking a driving layup to put the Red Storm ahead by 12, 64-52, and forcing a Seton Hall timeout.

After Ponds' outburst, the Johnnies went cold. Seton Hall outscored the Red Storm, 17-5, over the next six minutes, knotting the game at 69 with 3:30 to go. The Pirates rattled off 10 unanswered to tie the contest.

Clark nailed a triple with 2:26 to play, putting the Red Storm back ahead by three, 72-69. The Pirates then rattled off four-straight, taking its first lead of the game on a Powell layup with a minute to play. Heron sank a pair of free throw attempts to give the Johnnies a one-point edge, 74-73, with 44 ticks left on the clock. Neither team managed to find the bottom of the bucket before the game's final three seconds.

St. John's will return to action on Tuesday evening, playing host to No. 18/20 Marquette at Carnesecca Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. on FS1 and 970 AM WNYM.