St. John’s Falls to Pitt, 59-57, at MSG

Saturday, December 18

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

12 p.m.

St. John's University

8-3

Pittsburgh

4-7

Pittsburgh

St. John's

12/18/2021 3:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Jamarius Burton hit game-winning shot with less than a second to go

NEW YORK – Dylan Addae-Wusu drained two free throws to tie the score at 57 before Jamarius Burton hit a fadeaway jumper with less than a second to play, giving Pittsburgh a 59-57 win over St. John's on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in the Gotham Classic.

The Red Storm was without the services of its leading scorer, Preseason First Team All-BIG EAST selection Julian Champagnie, due to COVID safety protocols. Champagnie leads the Johnnies and ranks second in the BIG EAST with 20.3 points per game this season.

Addae-Wusu scored a team-high 12 points for the Johnnies. Posh Alexander registered 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a season-high five steals.

Joel Soriano narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with 10 points, nine rebounds and a career-high four blocks.

Without Champagnie, St. John's shot a season-low 34.9 percent from the floor, including a 6-for-18 showing from 3-point range.

Pitt went 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the final four minutes. St. John's started 1-for-4 and made just three of its six tries from the charity stripe during that same stretch.

Down 11-10 with six minutes gone in the game, St. John's rattled off a 10-0 run before stretching its lead to double digits, 23-13, on a Rafael Pinzon 3-pointer near the midway mark of the half.

Pitt responded with a 14-6 spurt to make it a two-point game, 29-27, before the Johnnies stopped the bleeding and took a four-point edge, 35-31, into the half.

After moving ahead by as many as seven, 41-34, five minutes into the latter stanza, St. John's saw Pitt uncork an 11-3 run to move ahead 45-44, the Panthers' first lead since 11-10. The Red Storm trailed for less than 20 seconds, as a Soriano jumper quickly put the Johnnies back on top.

St. John's led 55-52 after a Montez Mathis layup with 2:45 to go, but went scoreless for the next two and a half minutes. Pittsburgh scored five points, all from the line, during that stretch to move ahead by two. Addae-Wusu earned a trip to the line and made them both with eight seconds to go, but St. John's could not come up with a final stop.

St. John's will return to action on Dec. 23 against Butler at Carnesecca Arena. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. on FS1.