St. John's Quotes | Seton Hall Quotes | Box Score
By SEAN BRENNAN
BIGEAST.com
If they wanted to enjoy Selection Sunday more, if they wanted less stress as the clock ticked closer to the NCAA Selection Show at 6 o’clock, the St. John’s Red Storm needed to erase any doubt about their tourney resume and knock off Seton Hall in their BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal matchup at Madison Square Garden.
A win, and the Johnnies could almost hear their name being unveiled on Sunday. See their name pop up on the screen, celebrate like it’s 2000 (the last time the Johnnies won the BIG EAST Tournament and an NCAA Tournament game) and then get to work about extending their stay for as long as possible in the Big Dance.
Seton Hall? They were kind of in the same boat as St. John’s, more or less. Depending on how much credence you put in the prognosticating talking heads littering the internet, the PIrates seemed like a more safe bet to already be in the field of 68. But a win over the Johnnies would certainly ease any lingering tensions over in South Orange, N.J.
Oh, and St. John’s had a little extra motivation going into the game - the fact that the Red Storm lost both meetings with the Pirates this season. So maybe the third time would be the charm for the Johnnies?
Indeed it was and thanks mostly to R.J. Luis and Joel Soriano. Luis turned in a stellar performance off the bench with 18 points and nine rebounds and Soriano, who stacks double-doubles like IHOP stacks pancakes, added another to his portfolio with 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Johnnies rolled by Seton Hall, 91-72, before a sold-out crowd of 19,812 at the Garden.
And just like that, there will be less agita in Queens Sunday evening for St. John’s. That’s six straight wins for the Johnnies now. A string of “elimination” games that St. John’s aced each time out. That’s why Thursday’s win was so vital. It all but cemented the Red Storm as a tourney team. Bring on Selection Sunday.
“March is what it’s all about in college basketball,” St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said. “They knew if they lost to Creighton, lost to Butler, lost to DePaul, lost to Georgetown, it could be over.”
But the Johnnies ran the table, winning five straight to close the regular season, and coming into Thursday’s game as the hottest team in the BIG EAST.
After St. John’s took a 45-40 lead into the break the Johnnies (20-12) seemed to impose their will on the Pirates (20-12). They scored the first six points of the second half to nudge their lead to 11 points (51-40) and their lead only dipped into single figures on three occasions the rest of the half. Daniss Jenkins drilled a three-pointer for a 13-point Johnnies’ lead (54-41) with 16:33 to play and the Pirates could never seem to make a run at St. John’s.
You kind of got the feeling the Johnnies had the game in hand when Chris Ledlum converted a layup for a 79-67 lead with 4:44 to go and the St. John’s fans began to come to their feet and roar their approval. It wasn’t long after that when the Seton Hall fans began to hit the exits while the Red Storm crowd serenaded the Garden with “Let’s Go Johnnies” chants.
And now the Johnnies will play in a BIG EAST semifinal game for the first time in 24 years.
“It feels amazing,” Soriano said. “We knew today was going to be a hard-fought game. We knew that if we wanted to beat this team that we had to play our style of basketball and play a full 40 minutes. So I was just telling the guys when we got the lead to keep their foot on it, stay locked in. It’s (an) unbelievable feeling, man. We play on Friday night.”
Pitino, who knows something about playing huge games on Friday night at the Garden, has Soriano jacked to play in the semifinals.
“Coach P, he said playing Friday night at Madison Square Garden, there’s no other feeling, there’s no other tournament bigger than the BIG EAST Tournament. Just blessed. Thank God.”
The Red Storm’s reward for taking down the Pirates? A date with top-seeded UConn in the first game of Friday night’s semifinal doubleheader.
“We got a lucky draw,” Pitino joked. “Easy game.”
It will be St. John’s first trip to the semifinals since 2000 and their first tournament head-to-head with the Huskies since a 2010 First Round game, a 73-51 Johnnies win.
“We’re trying to win the BIG EAST Tournament,” Pitino said. “We know Connecticut is a great team. We know they’re one of the best teams in the country. I can tell you from being at Iona, their second unit is as good as their first unit. But we know that. But certainly we’ve had a great year. We’re a hot team. We’re going to try to win this BIG EAST crown.”