St. John’s Takes Down West Virginia at Madison Square Garden

Saturday, December 7

New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

8-2

West Virginia

7-1

West Virginia

St. John's

St. John’s Takes Down West Virginia at Madison Square Garden

12/7/2019 3:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm Men’s Basketball Team Wins Fourth-Straight Game in Mike Anderson’s Head Coaching Debut at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”

NEW YORK – After watching West Virginia erase a nine-point deficit down the stretch, the St. John's men's basketball team dug deep to outlast the previously unbeaten Mountaineers, 70-68, on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

With the score tied at 68, 40 seconds on the clock and the ball in the hands of West Virginia, the Johnnies forced a missed jumper from Taz Sherman on the baseline. Derek Culver came up with the offensive rebound for the Mountaineers and looked to have a clear path to the basket, but he was stripped by Rasheem Dunn.

Following a timeout, Dunn took possession of the ball with 16.5 seconds to go. After strategically running a few seconds off the clock, Dunn drove and drew a foul on Culver. The redshirt junior toed the line and confidently sank both of his free throws to put the Johnnies ahead, 70-68. Miles McBride then missed a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer, securing the Red Storm's first victory of the season at "The World's Most Famous Arena."

With the win, St. John's improved to 8-2 while West Virginia, who boasts wins this season over Pittsburgh, Wichita State and Rhode Island, fell to 7-1. The BIG EAST (3-0) stayed perfect in the early going of the inaugural BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle and St. John's moved to 76-39 all-time in the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival.

As a team, the Johnnies won the turnover battle easily against a team known for its relentless pressure, forcing 22 Mountaineer miscues while coughing up just 14 of their own. 15 of West Virginia's 22 turnovers were the result of St. John's 15 steals, a season-high for the Johnnies. The Red Storm converted those 22 turnovers into 22 points.

The Johnnies, who ranked third in the nation with 15.3 offensive rebounds per game entering the weekend, pulled down 17 offensive boards against the Mountaineers and tallied 15 points on those second-chance opportunities.

The ultimate difference maker on Saturday afternoon was the free-throw line, as St. John's made a season-high 81.5 percent of its chances (22-of-27). West Virginia made just five of its 12 tries from the charity stripe.

Dunn tallied his 13 points with the help of a 7-for-7 effort from the free throw line. Playing his first game at The Garden since winning the PSAL Championship for Thomas Jefferson as a senior in high school alongside Shamorie Ponds, Dunn also logged a team-high four assists to go along with five rebounds and two steals.

LJ Figueroa scored all of his team-high 17 points in the first half, making seven of his 10 field goal tries in the opening stanza. He also chipped in four rebounds and a pair of steals.

Nick Rutherford finished in double figures for the second time as a member of the Johnnies, posting 11 points, four rebounds and two assists. The graduate student also matched a career-high with five assists.

Greg Williams Jr. made both of his field goal tries and went 3-of-4 from the line to tie a career-high with eight points in just 17 minutes of action.

Despite posting just four points apiece, Josh Roberts and Julian Champagnie led the Red Storm's efforts on the boards with nine and seven rebounds, respectively.

Marcellus Earlington played a career-high 25 minutes, scoring four points, collecting five rebounds and blocking a shot. Four of Earlington's five boards came on the offensive glass.

The BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle lived up to its namesake in the opening half of action between St. John's and West Virginia, as the two teams traded blows throughout the opening 20 minutes.

Starting with a personal 5-0 Figueroa run to tie the score at 13 with 11:30 to go, the Red Storm and Mountaineers traded spurts of at least five points five times over the next seven minutes of game action. The last of those runs, a 7-0 St. John's tear, gave the Red Storm a 30-29 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the period.

At the intermission, St. John's forced 13 West Virginia turnovers, 10 of which resulted from steals, and converted those in 12 points. The Johnnies also collected 12 offensive boards, leading to 13 second-chance points.

West Virginia led for the last time with 18:24 to play in the second half, as St. John's used a 14-4 run to take a 52-43 advantage with 13 minutes on the clock. The Red Storm capped the spurt with eight unanswered points, as Dunn poured in five straight before finding Williams Jr. for a right-wing triple.

The two teams traded runs, as the Johnnies led by as many as 10 and as few as four before West Virginia knotted the contest with a 9-0 spurt between the 3:34 and 1:13 marks of the second half.

St. John's managed to hang on despite scoring its only points of the final four minutes on Dunn's decisive free throws.

The Red Storm will return to action on Tuesday night, welcoming Brown to Carnesecca Arena for a 7 p.m. tip on FS1 and 970 AM WNYM.