St. John's University Athletics
Shamorie Ponds Reaches Agreement with Houston Rockets for NBA Summer League
6/21/2019 1:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Red Storm standout begins NBA journey with Rockets
QUEENS, N.Y. – The latest in a long line of St. John's greats to earn an opportunity at the highest level of professional basketball, Shamorie Ponds reached an agreement to compete for the Houston Rockets in the 2019 NBA Summer League.
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Ponds, one of just five players in program history to be named to the All-BIG EAST First Team on more than one occasion, recently wrapped the highest scoring three-year career in St. John's Basketball history. The Brooklyn native netted 1,870 points in 96 career games, good enough for fifth on the program's all-time scoring list. Only two players in the long and storied history of St. John's, Chris Mullin and Malik Sealy, managed to score more points in a span of three seasons than did Ponds. His career scoring average of 19.5 points per game is tied for sixth in program history.
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This past season, Ponds led the Red Storm to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in four years, helping the team post 21 victories and earn a spot in the First Four. He led the team with 19.7 points, 5.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game, good enough for top five in the BIG EAST in all three of those categories. His 2.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio also topped the conference while his 2.6 thefts per outing led the league and ranked ninth in Division I. The dynamic southpaw reached double figures 29 times in 33 appearances with four showings of 30-plus points, including a season-high 37 points twice against Georgia Tech and Georgetown.Â
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As a sophomore in 2017-18, Ponds earned his first of two-consecutive Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America nods after averaging 21.6 points per game. Ponds guided the Red Storm to one of the most memorable stretches in program history, scoring 33 points in an upset victory of No. 4 Duke at Madison Square Garden before posting 26 points in the team's win over No. 1 Villanova, the first for the Johnnies over the nation's top-ranked team since 1985. He followed up those performances with the highest scoring outing in the history of Carnesecca Arena, netting 44 points in a win over Marquette.
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The league's coaches unanimously selected Ponds to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team in 2016-17, a campaign that saw him break D'Angleo Harrison's freshman scoring record (544) with 573 points. The Thomas Jefferson High School product ranked fifth in the conference in scoring as a rookie with 17.4 points per game, including a 17.9 point-per-game total during league play that ranked third among all BIG EAST players.
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Ponds, one of just five players in program history to be named to the All-BIG EAST First Team on more than one occasion, recently wrapped the highest scoring three-year career in St. John's Basketball history. The Brooklyn native netted 1,870 points in 96 career games, good enough for fifth on the program's all-time scoring list. Only two players in the long and storied history of St. John's, Chris Mullin and Malik Sealy, managed to score more points in a span of three seasons than did Ponds. His career scoring average of 19.5 points per game is tied for sixth in program history.
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This past season, Ponds led the Red Storm to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in four years, helping the team post 21 victories and earn a spot in the First Four. He led the team with 19.7 points, 5.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game, good enough for top five in the BIG EAST in all three of those categories. His 2.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio also topped the conference while his 2.6 thefts per outing led the league and ranked ninth in Division I. The dynamic southpaw reached double figures 29 times in 33 appearances with four showings of 30-plus points, including a season-high 37 points twice against Georgia Tech and Georgetown.Â
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As a sophomore in 2017-18, Ponds earned his first of two-consecutive Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America nods after averaging 21.6 points per game. Ponds guided the Red Storm to one of the most memorable stretches in program history, scoring 33 points in an upset victory of No. 4 Duke at Madison Square Garden before posting 26 points in the team's win over No. 1 Villanova, the first for the Johnnies over the nation's top-ranked team since 1985. He followed up those performances with the highest scoring outing in the history of Carnesecca Arena, netting 44 points in a win over Marquette.
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The league's coaches unanimously selected Ponds to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team in 2016-17, a campaign that saw him break D'Angleo Harrison's freshman scoring record (544) with 573 points. The Thomas Jefferson High School product ranked fifth in the conference in scoring as a rookie with 17.4 points per game, including a 17.9 point-per-game total during league play that ranked third among all BIG EAST players.
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