By Anthony Bosco
After a tough 75-63 loss at Providence Saturday night, St. John’s Red University men’s basketball coach Mike Jarvis shuffled his line-up, inserting the offensive-minded Kyle Cuffe and defensive specialist Sharif Fordham against the nation’s No. 23-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
And for just more than half of play, the move paid off. But when South Bend’s Troy Murphy and Ryan Humphrey stepped up play in the second half, St. John’s simply could not keep up. An 11-0 run followed by a 15-0 run buried the Red Storm’s hopes of pulling the upset, as Notre Dame held on to win 83-73.
“That was an amazing run, really,” said Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey. “Troy and Ryan took over every defensive board and then we were able to run our stuff a little bit better.”
Murphy was all but unstoppable whenever he touched the ball, hitting 12-of-15 from the field for a game-high 34 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Humphrey also recorded a double-double, scoring 16 with 11 boards and five blocks.
Their interior presence all but shut down St. John’s in the paint. The Storm shot 11-for-18 from beyond the arc for 61 percent, but hit only 38 percent of their shots overall. Anthony Glover, who did not start in favor of Cuffe, was just 1-for-10.
But none of that mattered in the first half, as the Red Storm shook off its usual slow start — falling behind by as much as eight in the early going — and quickly caught Notre Dame behind the sharpshooting of Willie Shaw and Omar Cook.
Trailing 13-5, Shaw nailed a three at 13:01, followed by a made free throw by Glover and fast-break basket by Alpha Bangura to close with two. After a Murphy bucket at 11:28, Cook hit his second three of the game from the top of the key to pull the Johnnies within one, 15-14.
Just more than a minute later Cook nailed another trey, setting up Cuffe’s slam dunk off the break to tie the game at 19-19 at 9:20 of the first half, silencing the raucous Notre Dame crowd.
The two teams traded the lead five times over the next seven minutes until Shaw nailed a three at the 2:26. Humphrey tied the game moments later, but St. John’s closed the half scoring the last four points to lead 40-36 at the break.
Shaw was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc at halftime for 14 points, while Murphy led the Irish with 17.
St. John’s held a 22-17 advantage off the glass, but that would not last for long.
After scoring the first six points of the second half to take a 46-36 lead — on an old-fashioned three-point play by Fordham and another trey by Cook — Notre Dame started to climb out of the 10-point deficit.
“If we could petition to have games between 20 and 30 minutes we would be a great basketball team,” Jarvis said. “We’ve got to finish.”
With the score 54-49, St. John’s squandered an opportunity to widen the lead after Notre Dame’s second five-second violation. A minute later Murphy made it a three-point game, allowing Matt Carroll to tie it with a three at 10:03.
A St. John’s turnover led to a fast-break dunk by Humphrey, who scored again after the Storm failed to convert of its next opportunity. Murphy closed the 11-0 run at 8:02, giving the Irish a 60-54 advantage.
After Donald Emanuel hit a short jumper from the right blocks, Notre Dame went on a 15-0 run during which both Emanuel and Mohamed Diakite fouled out. Murphy’s basket at 4:02 put the home team ahead 75-56.
Despite 12 late points by Cook, including back-to-back threes, St. John’s never threatened again, getting as close as eight in the final minute before David Grave’s two free throws pushed the final margin to 10.
Cook finished with 24 points and 12 assists, while Shaw added 17, only three coming after the break. The loss drops St. John’s to 19-9 overall and 6-4 in the Big East.
“I can’t even be happy with my performance because we lost,” said Cook of his career-high “I didn’t do enough for us to win. It’s time for us to be men, not freshmen.”
Next up for St. John’s is a trip to Miami to take on the Hurricanes Saturday, Feb. 10 at 3:30 p.m., followed by a return to Queens, where they will host the Providence Friars on Wednesday, Feb. 14. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Alumni Hall.
Providence 75, St. John’s 63. The Red Storm had four players in double figures, led by Fordham with 14, Cuffe and Shaw with 11 and Emanuel with 10, but St. John’s again let a halftime lead slip away in the second half. John Linehan handcuffed Cook all night, holding the freshman to just five points and three assists, while leading the Friars with 14 points. Queens’ Karim Shabazz added 11 points and nine rebounds for the winners.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
