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"It was amazing to watch Joe Lapchick stage his own fabulous retirement party by winning both premier MSG college tournamnets in 1964-65--the Holiday Festival and National Invitation--to close his St. John's coaching career.
What an exit! It was an emotional thrill to be a telecaster at both tournaments and witness the thunderous ovation for Joe."
-- Bob Wolff |
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Clang Gang Can’t Be Beat
Storm overcomes 18 misses in row to earn 20th win
By Jason Butler
Staff Writer
March 7, 2002
St. John's went scoreless for almost 11 minutes during last night's first-round Big East Tournament game against Seton Hall. Marcus Hatten missed 14 of 19 shots. Starters Donald Emanuel, Eric
King and Andre Stanley barely played in the second half.
And the Red Storm won. Of course it did. In a 64-58 win that all but guaranteed an NCAA berth, it wouldn't have made sense for the Red Storm to play artfully or predictably. No, this one had to be a wrestling match, nasty, brutish and confounding at every turn.
Coach Mike Jarvis and many of his players were unwilling to admit what the experts have ordained, that a 20-win team from a major conference shall not be denied an NCAA bid. It's happened only once since the tournament went to 64 teams.
Senior Anthony Glover preferred to talk about Notre Dame, which St. John's faces tonight. "I don't think we should be worrying about the Tournament,” said Glover, who had 14 points. "I think we should worry about our next opponent.”
There was cause for worry last night. Only after Hatten (16 points) banked in a long three-pointer and Glover made a layup for a 58-52 lead with 48 seconds left did it seem the Storm could win. St. John's hit four free throws to push the lead to 10, making the Pirates' two last-ditch three-pointers irrelevant.
In its 30th game, the Storm discovered a new way to win. The team ranked 11th in the conference at 66.3 percent from the line made 18 of 21 foul shots in the final 9:59. "It's been a mystery to me all year why we don't make free throws in games,” Jarvis said.
Equally mysterious was the drought in which St. John's missed 18 straight field-goal tries to open the second half and went scoreless for 10:59, including the final 1:36 of the first half. Fortunately for the Storm, its defense remained intact, and all Seton Hall could do was turn a 29-28 halftime deficit into a 36-29 lead. "At the time, it didn't seem like it was slipping away,” Sharif Fordham said. "We just felt that we've been in that situation before.”
Never quite like this. Layups skidded recklessly off the backboard. Three-pointers ran smack into the rim. The struggle continued until Fordham stole the ball and passed to a streaking Emanuel, who threw down a dunk that cut the Pirates' lead to 36-31 with 10:37 left. St. John's gradually regained momentum, taking a 41-40 lead on Fordham's basket with 6:35 to go. It never trailed again.
St. John's won with defense. If it had not forced 24 turnovers, there is no telling how big the Pirates' margin of victory would have been.
The Storm owed the Pirates (12-18) for what happened at the Garden a year ago today. At 14-14, St. John's would have become eligible for the 2001 NIT with a win in the first round of the conference tournament. Instead, it lost by 12 to Seton Hall.
During much of last night's game, St. John's seemed headed for more heartbreak. Tuesday night, Glover addressed his teammates, reminding them of the pain Seton Hall inflicted on them a year ago. "I wasn't to let these guys forget,” he said. "I think we all got the message.”
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
Note: NY Newsday
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