St. John's Suffers Crushing Loss To Crimson Tide

Alabama's Labaron Philon buried this three-pointer to give them a 98-88 lead with 2:00 left. Photo by Jason Schott. 

 

St. John's, the No. 5 team in the country, lost a hard-fought battle with the No. 15 Alabama Crimson Tide, 103-96, on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

The loss drops the Red Storm to 1-1 on the young season, while Alabama improved to 2-0. 

Lebaron Philon led the way for Alabama with 25 points, including 15 in the second half, on 10-17 shooting, including 2-5 from behind the arc, with three rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

Aden Holloway had 21 points (9-18 FG, 2-9 threes), four assists, and two rebounds. Latrell White sell Jr. had 17 points (6-13 FG, 4-8 threes), with four steals and three rebounds. Taylor Bol Bowen also had 17 points on a near-perfect 6-7 shooting, with nine rebounds, narrowly missing a double-double, with two steals and an assist.

St. John's was led by Zuby Ejiofor, who had 27 points on 9-12 shooting, including 2-3 from behind the arc and 7-10 on free throws, with 10 rebounds to give him a double-double, three assists, and two steals.

Bryce Hopkins had 19 points (5-12 FG, 9-13 FT), four rebounds, and an assist. Ian Jackson had 14 points (6-14 FG, 1-3 threes), four rebounds, and three assists. Oziyah Sellers also had 14 points (5-1) FG), seven rebounds, and three assists. 

Ejiofor and Hopkins came out firing, as Zuby had 21 points, and Hopkins 15, in the first half, but St. John's dynamic duo was outmatched by the 15 points from Holloway 10 from Philon, and 7 apiece from Bowen and Aiden Sherrell, as Alabama took  a 53-44 lead into halftime.

St. John's opened the second half with a bit of a scoring spurt, with Ian Jackson pouring in seven points to help them pull back within two, at 60-58, in the first few minutes.

Ian Jackson hitting a three-pointer that cut Alabama's lead to 58-52. Photo by Jason Schott.

Alabama then responded with an 11-2 run to take a 71-60 lead at the 14:52 mark.

St. John's would battle back, first with an 8-3 run, which turned into a 21-9 clip that saw them take an 81-80 lead on a Joson Sanon three-pointer at the 8:13 mark.

The crowd went wild when St. John's finally snatched the lead. Photo by Jason Schott.

They would trade baskets over the next couple of minutes, with an Oziyah Sellers jumper making it 87-86 Red Storm at the 6:09 mark.

Alabama responded with a 14-1 run over the next four minutes and 25 seconds, capped by a three-pointer from Latrell Whitesell Jr. at the 1:44 mark that made it 100-88.