Comeback Effort Falls Short against No. 11/10 Butler, 60-58

Tuesday, December 31

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

7:30 p.m.

St. John's University

11-3,0-1BE

Butler

13-1,1-0BE

Butler

St. John's

Comeback Effort Falls Short against No. 11/10 Butler, 60-58

12/31/2019 10:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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St. John’s men’s basketball team erased a 23-point second-half deficit in BIG EAST opener at Carnesecca Arena on New Year’s Eve

QUEENS, N.Y. – Trailing No. 11/10 Butler by as many as 23 in the second half, the St. John's men's basketball team put forth a tenacious comeback effort to reclaim the lead in the closing minutes. The Bulldogs, however, held the Johnnies scoreless over the final 3:08 and scored the game's last seven points to escape Carnesecca Arena with a 60-58 victory.

St. John's (11-3, 0-1 BIG EAST) outscored the Bulldogs (13-1, 1-0 BIG EAST), 39-11, during that crucial stretch before Butler closed the game on a 7-0 run.

Graduate student Nick Rutherford keyed the Red Storm's comeback effort, finishing with 15 points, five assists and a career-high six steals. All but two of his points and one of his steals came in the second stanza.

Three other Johnnies finished in double figures, as Rasheem Dunn scored 12 points, Greg Williams Jr. tied a career-high with 11 and Marcellus Earlington chipped in 10.

St. John's managed to nearly to pull off the upset despite playing without the services of the team's second-leading scorer, Mustapha Heron, who missed his third straight game with a sprained right ankle. The team's leading scorer, LJ Figueroa, was held scoreless for the first time in his St. John's tenure after being limited to 13 minutes due to foul trouble.

Coming into the game, Butler ranked fifth in the nation in terms of turnovers, surrendering just 10.4 per contest on average. The Red Storm forced 24 miscues from the Bulldogs, 10 more than their previous season-high. 16 of those turnovers were the result of St. John's steals, a season-best for the Red Storm in that category. In addition to Rutherford's six thefts, Williams and Dunn picked up three apiece. The Johnnies also took tremendous care of the rock in their own end, recording just seven turnovers of their own.

The Red Storm struggled to score early against one of the nation's top defenses, as the Bulldogs jumped out to an 11-4 lead with 13:24 to go in the opening half following a 9-0 run. The Red Storm then promptly rattled off six unanswered to pull within one, 11-10.

After the Johnnies knotted the game at 14 on a pair of Dunn free throws with 7:45 to go before the break, the Red Storm went cold. St. John's missed 12 of its next 13 shot attempts while Butler converted on eight of its next 10 attempts, including five 3-pointers, to close the half on a 22-3 run.

The Red Storm's 16 first-half points marked the team's lowest total for a half since posting 15 in the opening stanza against the Bulldogs at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Jan. 27, 2018.

Trailing by 23, 42-19, after a Jordan Tucker 3-pointer with 18:08 to go, the Johnnies began to chip away at the deficit. After an initial 10-2 run to pull within 15, 44-29, with 15:12 to play, the Red Storm rattled off 19 unanswered, holding Butler without a point for more than nine minutes and pulling ahead by two, 48-46, with 6:49 to play. Earlington scored a team-high six points on the run, including a layup through contact to cap the tear and put the Johnnies on top.

Following a Kamar Baldwin trey to put Butler back ahead, the Red Storm rattled off six straight to take a five-point lead, 54-49, with just over four minutes remaining in the contest. Williams Jr. scored four points on the spurt.

Dunn scored the Red Storm's final points on a layup with 3:08 to go before Butler, who entered the contest ranked fourth in the nation in scoring defense, held St. John's off the board the rest of the way.

The Johnnies will begin a two-game road swing on Saturday, Jan. 5, when they take on Xavier at Cintas Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on FOX and 970 AM WNYM.