By Anthony Bosco
That's when Jarvis turned to defensive specialist Sharif Fordham, a sophomore out of Far Rockaway by way of Gulf Coast Community College. Fordham shut down Miami point guard John Salmons and was a disruptive force against the entire Miami offense, helping the Red Storm go on a 10-2 run to end regulation and force overtime.
St. John's outscored Miami 11-7 in the extra session, including two big baskets by Anthony Glover, who was held scoreless throughout regulation, to win 67-63 and improve to 11-6, 5-1 in the Big East.
“I want to give our team tremendous credit,” Jarvis said after the game, “for winning a game that earlier in the year we probably would have lost. I'm glad the home team won tonight.
“[Sharif] can come in and apply some defense and rebound,” the coach added. “And everyone gets an emotional lift from him.”
Fordham's presence late in the contest completely took Miami out of its game, with the Red Storm applying pressure led by the 6-foot-4 guard, who poked, harassed and altogether frustrated the Hurricanes.
“I'm satisfied with the way I played,” Fordham said. “Offense doesn't always win games.”
Defense and Miami's poor shooting (36.1 percent) also allowed St. John's to jump out to a 21-7 lead 12 minutes into the game.
After neither team looked to establish itself offensively through the game's first four minutes, the Red Storm began a 16-2 run started by Omar Cook's driving layup at 15:49. Junior forward Donald Emanuel scored five during the run, which was capped by freshman guard Willie Shaw hitting 1-of-2 from the foul line with 8:11 remaining.
Miami responded with a eight straight points, including back-to-back threes by James Jones, and pulled closer moments later when Darius Rice score five straight points for the Hurricanes. Rice hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 1:03 left in the first half to pull Miami within four, 28-24, but SJU's Kyle Cuffe extended the Johnnies' lead in the final moments, scoring an offensive putback and getting fouled as the buzzer sounded. His subsequent free throw made the score 31-24.
“They basically took us away from the things we usually do and live to do,” Jarvis said. “They are a very dangerous team.”
The Hurricanes showed just how dangerous a team they are early in the second half. Salmons and Michael Simmons opened the half nailing back-to-back threes, followed by two inside from Dwayne Wimbley to give Miami its first lead since the opening minutes of the game. Cook responded with two of his own, but Jones canned two more threes in succession to give Miami a five-point cushion.
After a Shaw three pulled St. John's within two, Miami went on a 9-2 run over the next five minutes to take a nine-point lead, 47-38, with 10:56 remaining.
During the run, Emanuel went down with an ankle injury, forcing Jarvis to use Cuffe as his inside threat. The freshman out of Rice quickly became the Red Storm's go-to man, scoring six of eight Red Storm points and pulling St. John's to within six, 52-46.
“The one thing about Kyle is that he's going to go to the basket,” Jarvis said. “When that kid learns how to play he's going to be awfully good.”
A Rice basket followed by two Cook free throws at 5:22 started the final stretch run. The Johnnies stole the ensuing inbound pass and Fordham scored underneath. Two more ineffective Miami possessions led to two more St. John's baskets, a layup by Shaw and a jumper by Cook with 4:08 remaining that tied the game.
Neither team scored for more than two minutes until Cook found Cuffe off an inbound pass under the Miami basket with 1:43 to go to give the Red Storm the lead for the first time in 15 minutes, 56-54.
But Miami managed to even the score when Salmon came free off a pick and drove uncontested to the basket with 9.7 seconds remaining. Cook fell to the ground on his drive as he tried to give the Red Storm the win, but St. John's never got off a shot and the clock ticked down on regulation.
Glover, who had not scored to that point, and Alpha Bangura came alive in the extra session. Glover's basket with 2:24 remaining gave St. John's the lead for good, 62-61, while Bangura had four in overtime.
“We have more strength at the end of games [than other teams],” said Cook, referring to the team's rigorous practice schedule. “We just outplayed them in overtime.”
“I was extremely proud of the way the team responded,” said Miami coach Perry Clark. “We just got to do a better job finishing games off.”
Cook finished with a team high 17 points and nine assists, followed by Cuffe with 15 points and Shaw with 10. Glover finished with eight rebounds. Rice led Miami with 22 points and seven rebounds, followed by Jones with 17 point and five rebounds and Salmon with 13 points and nine rebounds.
St. John's will travel to take on Virginia Tech Saturday at noon, and will return to Madison Square Garden Tuesday to take on the University of Connecticut Huskies at 7 p.m.
St. John's 82, Villanova 70. Glover led the way with 20 points and seven rebounds as the Johnnies upended the Wildcats Saturday. Shaw finished with 18 points and Cook had 14 points and five assists in the win, as St. John's overcame a sluggish start, outscoring Villanova 27-13 to end the first half with a 34-29 lead.
