St. John's Loses Nailbiter To Iowa State To Open Players Era Championship

 

Dillon Mitchell bringing the ball up. @StJohnsBBall.

St. John's, ranked 14th in the nation, opened the Players Era Championship on Monday afternoon in Las Vegas, and they lost a nailbiter, 83-82, to No. 15 Iowa State.

The Red Storm are now 3-2 on the young season, and they will take on Baylor in the second game of this tournament on Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. eastern time.

Iowa State opened this one with a 28-20 lead at the 7:47 mark of the first half, but St. John's closed it off with a surge to take a 45-43 lead into the break.

The Cyclones grabbed the lead back early in the second stanza, as a Joshua Jefferson three-pointer put them up 59-53 at the 13:56 mark.

St. John's tied it at 62 when Dillon Mitchell slammed one home at 10:32, and they opened up a four-point edge, 68-64, on a pair of Dylan Darling free throws at 8:48 that capped off a 10-2 run.

Just like the Alabama game on November 8, Iowa State made a late run. Nate Heise got a layup and a foul for a three-point play to give them a 75-72 lead at 5:09.

Iowa State led by five  with at 3:07, but Oziyah Sellers buried a pair of three-pointers to put St. John's up 80-79 with 2:09 left.

Milan Momcilovic made a layup at 1:55 to put Iowa State back up one, and they were up three, at 83-80, on a pair of Justin Jefferson free throws with 10 seconds left.

St. John's elected to not take their timeout and take it the length of the floor, which didn't exactly work, as Zuby Ejiofor was forced to heave a three-pointer that barely grazed the rim. Mitchell grabbed the rebound and put it home for a basket, but because Iowa State didn't go anywhere near him, St. John's lost by one point.

Momcilovic led Iowa State with 23 points on 8-13 shooting, including 5-9 on three-pointers, with three rebounds and an assist. Jefferson had 17 points (5-14 FG, 1-2 threes), eight rebounds, and three assists. Tamin Lipsey had 16 points (5-17 FG, 2-6 threes), with five assists, a rebound, and a steal.

St. John's was led by Oziyah Sellers, who had 20 points on 6-11 shooting, including a near-perfect 5-6 from behind the arc, with five rebounds.

Take away Sellers' 5-6 on three-pointers, and St. John's was just 2-14, making it a meager 7-20 overall, notable because this was something Head Coach Rick Pitino highlighted as something that would improve with all their new additions over the summer.

Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins had 16 points apiece, with Zuby just missing a double-double as he snatched nine rebounds, and he also had five assists and a steal, while Hopkins had seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Dillon Mitchell had 12 points off the bench, as he shot 6-8 from the field, and he also had nine rebounds, as well as an assist.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "It was another tough game for us. When you play this type of schedule, you're going to be in tough games. The effort was great. The play was terrific. With the game on the line, we just didn't come up with the rebounds necessary to put the other team away. But that's credit to their incredible crashing on the offensive glass. It's unfortunate that we lost another good game."

On how Dylan Darling fouling out affected the end of the game: "It had nothing to do with, the guards played excellent defense. They didn't come out with the blocking out on the glass. They got four offensive rebounds with the game on the line. It wasn't Dylan Darling. It was their ability to come up with the backboard and our inability to come up with the rebound."

On Oziyah Sellers shot choice down the stretch: "I wanted him to shoot a three. He was open and instead he took a tough two. We want him to get more threes up and when he's open for a glimpse, he's got to shoot the ball. Instead, he went into the defender. It's something that's a weakness on his part right now because we need him to shoot threes."

On rebounding against Iowa State: "We played a terrific basketball team, and with the game on the line, we couldn't come up with the rebound. I don't look at what individuals do when they give great effort. Both Joson (Sanon) and Ian (Jackson) gave great effort. I give the other team credit for playing good defense on them. The rebounding, they've got to do a better job of."

On the struggles with physicality: "You've got to create rebounding space and we were not doing that. The offensive play is always going to push you in the back. So it's a car crash, who wins the crash? If they crash into you, they move you to the baseline. If you crash into them, you win and we have struggled with that all season. It's been a weakness of ours."

On the matchup against Baylor: "First of all, I don't Coach against Scott Drew, I Coach against Baylor. He doesn't coach against me, he coaches against St. John's. We have a totally different basketball team this year than last year, and so does he. They're a very good basketball team. They shoot the three great. (Cameron) Carr's an outstanding athlete. But this tournament we knew we'd have three tough games. We just have to keep getting better."