Providence Holds Off St. John’s, 63-58

Wednesday, January 15

Providence, R.I. (Dunkin' Donuts Center)

8:30 p.m.

St. John's University

12-6,1-4BE

Providence

11-7,4-1BE

St. John's

Providence

1/15/2020 11:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The St. John's men's basketball team whittled its deficit down to two on a pair of occasions in the final two minutes, but the Johnnies were unable to close the gap, falling to Providence, 63-58, on Wednesday at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

With the loss, the Red Storm fell to 12-6 with a 1-4 record in BIG EAST play. Providence improved to 4-1 in conference action and 11-7 overall.

LJ Figueroa scored a team-high 12 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine boards, five steals and two blocks. The junior wing made just two of his 13 attempts from three-point range. As a team, the Red Storm went 6-of-24 from beyond the arc.

Figueroa led four Johnnies in double figures on the evening. Rasheem Dunn tallied 11 points and six boards while Greg Williams Jr. and Marcellus Earlington chipped in 10 apiece. Williams Jr. shot 4-of-7 from the floor while Earlington went 5-for-8.

St. John's recorded 11 steals, marking the team's fifth straight game with double-digit thefts, the longest such streak in the NCAA. Coming into the game, the Johnnies ranked fourth in Division I with 10.6 steals per game.

Providence outscored the Red Storm at the free throw line by a 17-8 margin and outrebounded the Johnnies, 46-34.

After St. John's forced three turnovers on the Friars' first five possessions, Providence settled down and used an 8-0 run to take a 12-7 lead at the game's second media timeout. All but two of those 12 Providence points came off St. John's turnovers.

From there, the Johnnies began to hit from deep, using a trio of triples to retake the lead, 18-16, with just under eight minutes to play in the half. Two of those long balls came off the hands of Williams Jr., while Figueroa sank the other.

The Friars outscored the Johnnies, 15-5, over the next six minutes, taking their largest lead of the game, 31-23, with two minutes to go. The Red Storm, however, managed to keep Providence off the board for the rest of the half, cutting the deficit to five after 20 minutes of action.

Trailing by seven, 35-28, with just over two minutes gone in the second half, the Johnnies embarked on an 11-1 run over the next four and a half minutes. Mustapha Heron sparked the spurt with a four-point play before Figueroa added another 3-pointer and Dunn and Earlington chipped in buckets. Providence committed five turnovers during the St. John's push.

Leading 39-36 with 13:25 to play, St. John's saw the Friars come out of a timeout and rattle off eight straight points, moving back ahead by five, 44-39, just over a minute later.

After Providence climbed ahead by as many as seven, 55-48, with 6:18 to go, St. John's continued to fight. The Johnnies pulled within two on a pair of occasions in the final two minutes, but Providence got a clutch triple from Luwane Pipkins and came up with a stop on the Red Storm's final possession to hold on for the victory.

St. John's returns to action on Saturday, playing host to No. 18/18 Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden. The game will honor the memory of the late Howard Garfinkel, a titan in the college basketball community who passed away in 2016. Tickets for the game are available at RedStormTix.com.