Posh Alexander shoots throughout St. John's win over Butler.
AP
St. John’s has a pulse, nevertheless faint.
The Pink Storm are nonetheless respiration, and now they've momentum.
After blowing out Georgetown on Thursday, the Pink Storm rallied from 9 down within the second half Saturday to get by Butler, 75-72, regardless of the absence down the stretch of injured star level guard Posh Alexander. Of their private home of horrors, Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, St. John’s owned the ultimate minutes and gained within the historic constructing for the primary time since 2014.
“Right now the message earlier than the sport, and Georgetown, was by any means vital,” junior star Julian Champagnie stated. “We’re taking that into consideration and making that our factor. I feel it’s coming collectively.”
St. John’s went on the street following a gut-punch residence loss to No. 15 Windfall on Tuesday, and gained consecutive league video games within the span of 40 hours. The victories have given them life coming into a large week on the Backyard, with No. 12 Villanova and No. 17 Connecticut set to go to.
“It’s go time,” coach Mike Anderson stated. “It’s that point of the 12 months.”
One of many crew’s weaknesses — free-throw taking pictures — was a power on Saturday. St. John’s went 21-for-25 from the charity stripe, together with 9-for-10 within the last 2:15. Ranked 334th within the nation in free-throw taking pictures at 64.9 p.c previous to the sport, Anderson devoted your complete shootaround Friday to the road.
It labored.
“You take a look at the video games we’ve come up quick, it’s as a result of [we were] not making free throws,” Anderson stated.
Most significantly, the St. John’s protection confirmed up late after struggling many of the afternoon to earn the Quad 2 win. Over the primary 25 minutes, Butler (11-12, 4-8 Huge East) was crimson scorching from deep, hitting 9 3-pointers. However the remainder of the way in which, the Bulldogs hit only one, partly on account of Anderson’s swap to a zone.
Over the ultimate 8:35, St. John’s (13-9, 5-6) outscored Butler by seven, a stretch that started with 4 consecutive factors from Aaron Wheeler (13 factors, 5 rebounds) to drag St. John’s even at 62.
Dylan Addae-Wusu gave the Pink Storm the lead for good with one free throw and Tareq Coburn, the Hofstra switch who performed his first crunch-time minutes of the season, hit two extra on the line to push the result in three with 1:19 left.
Champagnie had his second straight high quality recreation, notching 21 factors and eight rebounds, and hit 4 clutch free throws within the last 19.6 seconds to seal the victory.
“[Give] credit score to our guys,” Anderson stated. “They’ve performed a great job of taking possession of the crew. You’re seeing them huddle up and speak about what they need to get performed.”
The one adverse was the right-ankle harm Alexander suffered late within the recreation. On a drive and dish to Joel Soriano (12 factors), he landed awkwardly and turned his ankle. Alexander tried to play via the ache, however he got here out for good with 3:26 to go and was seen icing his ankle on the bench. After the sport, Alexander was helped off the ground, so he wouldn’t must put any weight on the ankle.
“He couldn’t go,” stated Anderson, who had no additional updates.
There could also be two shorthanded groups on the Backyard on Tuesday. Villanova’s star level guard, Collin Gillespie, suffered a proper ankle harm Saturday in a rout of UConn, and his standing is unsure. The Wildcats have been already with out Justin Moore (ankle).
That could possibly be the break St. John’s must put collectively a desperately wanted win streak. As a minimum, the Pink Storm have given themselves an opportunity for a giant week by pulling out the victory on Saturday.
“I simply consider we’re trending in the fitting route,” Anderson stated. “We’re getting extra items to the puzzle which are stepping up.
“This crew,” he added, “is turning into a crew.”
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