St. John’s Drops Heartbreaker To Baylor In The Bahamas

 

Kadary Richmond goes up for a layup. @StJohnsBball.

St. John's lost a heartbreaker in the Bahamas against Baylor, 99-98, in double overtime on Thursday night.

This is the first loss of the season for the Red Storm, who entered this one ranked 22nd in the country in the AP Top 25, and No. 20 in the USA Today poll. They are now 4-1, as is Baylor, who entered this one ranked 13th in the AP and No. 14 in USA Today.

St. John's came out firing in this one, as they raced out to a 44-30 halftime lead after a first half in which they shot 58.6 overall, or 17-29, and a superb 72.7 percent (8-11) from behind the arc. They held Baylor to just 36.7 percent (11-30) shooting overall and 45.5 percent (5-11) on three-pointers.

Baylor opened the second half on an 8-3 run, and even though St. John's was up 13 points, at 53-40, at the 15:34 mark on an RJ Luis Jr. jump shot off a turnover, Baylor pulled within three, at 60-57l, on a Josh Ojianwuna dunk with 11:09 left.

St. John's maintained a five-point edge until the final few minutes, when Jayden Dunn made a jumper from outside the paint off a turnover with 2:41 left.

Baylor was clinging to a two-point edge in the closing seconds when Kadary Richmond made a floating jumper in the paint with seven seconds left to tie it at 77.

In overtime, it was Baylor who was up five, at 86-81, with 1:47 remaining. Richmond made a layup at 1:36, and then he got to the line with 41 seconds left when he made one of two free throw attempts, and then, after a Baylor turnover with 34 seconds left, Richmond was back at the charity stripe, where he drained two free throws to tie it at 86, where the first OT would end.

St. John's kept the momentum going into the second overtime, and Simeon Wilcher buried a three-pointer at the 2:21 mark to give them a commanding 97-92 edge.

The Red Storm were still up five, 98-93, when Deivon SMith buried a free throw with 18 seconds left.

V.J. Edgecombe drained a three-pointer with seven seconds left, and then after Zuby Ejiofor missed the first of a one-and-one at the free throw line, Jeremy Roach buried a fast break three-pointer as time expired.

St. John's was led by Zuby Ejiofor, who had 22 points on 8-10 from the field, and 10 rebounds for a double-double, with two assists and a steal. Aaron Scott had 20 points on 6-8 from the field, including a near-perfect 5-6 on three-pointers, with six rebounds. RJ Luis Jr. had 16 points (6-13 FG, 3-5 threes), with six rebounds, four assists, and two steals.

Baylor was led by Norchad Omier, who had 24 points on 9-18 shooting, and he made six free throws, along with 10 rebounds for a double-double, as well as three assists and three rebounds. Jeremy Roach had 20 points (7-14 FG, 3-5 threes), four assists, three rebounds, and a steal.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: “Well, that was about as difficult a loss as you can have. … But give [Baylor] credit. They made 15 threes, and you're not going to win many games [giving up that many threes], even though you make 14. It was a hard-fought game.”

On the team’s performance overall: “I was very pleased, but we broke down defensively in the second half. We said that [Baylor] was a team that has only taken 14 mid-range shots the whole year. It's either the three or the rim, and we gave up some three-point shots that nailed us in the end.”

 

On the ending sequence of the second overtime: “Well, they're going to be disappointed. They had the game in control at the end and [VJ Edgecombe] made a big shot. We missed the free throws and [Jeremy Roach] made a big shot. We could have iced it. It could have been over, but it wasn't. And give them credit.”

 

On the importance of tonight’s hard fought, double overtime game against Baylor: “The only time there’s value is when you win. When you lose, there's no value to it. In the first half, it was textbook offense, textbook defense. In the second half, we gave them the threes, so give them the credit. They won the game, and we didn't make the plays we had to make.”