St. John's Turns The Tables On DePaul
By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
If you paid close attention to St. John’s this season, and experienced the rollercoaster ride the the Johnnies took their fans on during the regular season, you were left to wonder just which Red Storm team was going to show up for its BIG EAST Tournament opening-round game against No. 10 seed DePaul Wednesday night.
Would it be the one that swept Marquette this season or the one which was swept by DePaul? Would it be the one who handed Villanova a 71-65 loss at a packed Garden earlier this season, or would it be the one which limped to the regular-season finish line by losing three in a row, thus dropping them to the seven seed in the tournament and a Wednesday night game?
At halftime, it was still anyone’s guess as to which team had shown up as the Johnnies left the court at intermission clinging to a precarious 39-35 lead. But in the second half things changed dramatically for the Red Storm. Justin Simon, the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, turned in another stellar defensive effort as he helped limit high-scoring Max Strus to just 14 points, and the Johnnies used an 11-5 sprint from the second-half gate to build a double-digit lead and they never let the Blue Demons get any closer than eight points the rest of the way as St. John’s rolled into Thursday’s quarterfinal after an 82-74 victory over DePaul at a sold-out Madison Square Garden.
The Johnnies (21-11) will now face a second-seeded Marquette team they beat twice during the regular season - by 20 points at Carnesecca Arena to open conference play back on New Year’s Day, and by a point in Milwaukee in early February.
Red Storm head coach Chris Mullin said a lot of the credit for Wednesday night’s win goes to his defensive stalwart, Simon.
“Obviously, being named Defensive Player of the Year, we rely on him tremendously to set the tone,” Mullin said. “I thought tonight he did that. And as important as that was having his teammates behind him. Shamorie (Ponds) did a great job. We had a little different plan (and) he executed to perfection. There was a total team effort.”
Yes, Ponds did his usual thing, scoring in a myriad of ways as he not only finished with 18 points, but moved past Bob Zawoluk into fifth place on St. John’s all-time scoring list with 1,832 career points. And Simon? He scored 18 as well, but also grabbed six rebounds and added four assists, two steals and two blocks.
And reduced Strus from superhuman status to that of a mere mortal. He helped cool off the red-hot Strus, who torched St. John’s for 43 points in their last meeting on March 3. Strus finished with just 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the floor, including just 2-for-7 from three-point range.
“I just thought tonight Justin was instrumental in setting the tone and then Shamorie and the rest of our team did a good job,” Mullin said.
The Johnnies got a balanced offensive attack as not only did Ponds and Simon tally 18, but so did Mustapha Heron, who also added a team-high seven boards, and LJ Figueroa finished with 14 points and six boards.
But Simon, ever the team player, said it was a collective effort that helped shut down Strus and, ultimately, DePaul.
“It was a team effort,” Simon said. “Strus is a great player. He can get hot. I was just running off the line and trying to make him uncomfortable. I thought it was a great team effort out there.”
DePaul, which recorded 15 wins this season, its highest total since 2006-2007, hung in as best it could with its scoring leader locked down by Simon. Eli Cain, the senior out of New Jersey, did all he could to keep the Blue Demons alive in the tournament by scoring a game-high 23 points while Devin Gage tossed in 19. The Blue Demons even made one last run at the Johnnies late in second half when a layup and a three-pointer by Cain in a 34-second span brought DePaul within 76-66 with 2:40 to play.
But the Johnnies answered with a three-ball from Marvin Clark II with 2:14 to go to bump the lead back to 13 points and the Red Storm coasted from there.
But there is precious little time for the Johnnies to celebrate as BIG EAST Player of the Year Markus Howard and the Hauser brothers, Sam and Joey, await in Thursday night’s 7 p.m. quarterfinal. So how do the Johnnies view their next opponent after taking them down twice this season?
“It definitely shows that we can beat them,” Ponds said. “We’ve just got to have the game game plan that we beat those guys with at their home and our home. So I’m looking forward to the game. I feel like those guys are going to bring their all so I feel like we can’t lay down.”