Four years of expectation and 3 years of frustration ended with one night of jubilation for the 10 St John's seniors Saturday Night at Carnesecca Arena. After years of mediocre play and lackluster results, the St John's Red Storm have rejuvenated their fan base with inspired play this season under the tutelage of first year head coach Steve Lavin. The excitement was in full affect last night in Jamaica as St John's defeated South Florida 72-56 on a night where the seniors were celebrated for their efforts over the past 4 years with an emotional pregame ceremony.
Even with the energy in the crowd and the emotions of the players the game began with a pretty sluggish pace. The Johnnies couldn't get anything going offensively against South Florida's 2-3 zone, and as a result ended the first half trailing by 2. They were trailing as late as the 10 minute mark in the second half, but finally got some timely hoops from Dwight Hardy and ran away with it down the stretch. Four year Senior Sean Evan's put the exclamation point on the evening with a thunderous breakaway dunk that sent the fans into a frenzy. It was a special moment coming from a player that's been here through the bad times, and ready to take advantage of the good times coming up in postseason play.
St John's clinched a tie for third place in the Big East, and the 5th seed in the Big East Tournament because of losses to Louisville and Syracuse earlier this season. That leaves the Johnnies with a second round matchup on Wednesday versus the winner of the Seton Hall and Rutgers matchup. I am personally rooting for Seton Hall to move on so the Johnnies can exact revenge on the Pirates and put them back in their place as the little brother in this tri state rivalry.
Before we get to madness of the March postseason college tournaments, we have some NBA hoops to discuss as the Knicks take on the Hawks tonight in the Dirty Dirty tonight. See ya then!
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