By Anthony Bosco
He did it again.
Marcus Hatten brought the St. John’s University men’s basketball back from the brink Monday night, scoring 30 points — 21 in the second half — to help the Red Storm overcome a 13-point deficit and defeat the visiting Virgina Cavaliers, 73-63, in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament at Alumni Hall.
Spurred on by a raucous if not capacity crowd, St. John’s (18-13) overcame a Virginia team that started the game shooting 7-for-8 and during one stretch in the second half connected on seven straight three-pointers.
But Hatten wasn’t ready to end his collegiate career.
“Me, I never panicked,” said Hatten, who also had 7 steals, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. “As long as we weren’t 30 points down, we had a chance to win. We just digged in and came back and got it down to two at halftime and we knew it was a ball game then.
“We had to come out in the second half and try to force the issue and try to use all our energy to try and take over the game,” he added. “We stayed patient and got things going our way.”
Hatten was held in check most of the first half courtesy of a box-and-one defense Virginia employed, allowing the Cavaliers to keep the SJU offense quiet while attacking the Red Storm both inside and out on the offensive end.
Devin Smith (19 points) hit two three-pointers and Travis Watson (15 points) scored nine in the first five minutes to give Virginia a 19-6 lead at the 15:15 mark. The lead was again at 13 moments later, on another basket by Smith, before the Red Storm offense finally kicked into gear.
Two three-pointers by Willie Shaw sandwiched a three by Elijah Ingram (11 points, 5 rebounds) during a 11-1 run to pull SJU within three. A three by Hatten at 4:30 made it a two point game before the Cavaliers responded with a three by Todd Billet (15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) and two free throws by Jermaine Harper made it a seven-point game.
St. John’s closed the half on a 7-2 run, including an alley-oop dunk by Grady Reynolds (7 points, 10 rebounds) off a pass from Hatten that sent the crowd into a frenzy just before the halftime buzzer.
“Until the last two games I thought Willie Shaw was our sixth man,” head coach Mike Jarvis said. “Now I realize the students are our sixth man. Hopefully we’ll continue to go down this road cause the players love it. I think its made a big difference in these games. We want to thank the students as well.”
Hatten tied the game seconds into the second half by nailing a turnaround jumper, but Virgina (16-16) capitalized on the Storm’s zone defense, as Harper, Smith and Billet all hit threes to give Virginia a 52-46 lead with 9:42 remaining. The Cavaliers hold two wins over Wake Forest, Maryland and North Carolina this season, as well as single wins over Kentucky, Georgetown, Rutgers and Florida State.
But no matter how many shots the Cavaliers hit, Hatten and the Storm had the answer.
Senior Anthony Glover (12 points) scored his first field goal of the game with 6:34 remaining to pull St. John’s within one and Hatten gave the team the lead more than a minute later when he rebounded his own miss and scored underneath. Hatten then drilled a three-pointer, prompting Virgina coach Pete Gillen to call timeout.
“I just was a little bit more aggressive and things just clicked, so I had to keep going with what I was going with,” Hatten said.
Glover came alive down the stretch, scoring four straight points to push the lead to seven, 63-56, as Virginia simply went cold. Glover was also 6-of-6 from the line in the final 1:11 to seal the game.
“I noticed that Watson had four fouls, so I really tried to attack the basket,” Glover said. “I made my shots and I made my free throws and that was basically the game for me.”
The win enables the Red Storm to advance to the third round of the NIT Thursday, when Jarvis and Co. will host the winner of Sienna-UAB at 7:30 p.m. at Alumni Hall.
“At this time of the year, there are not a lot of teams still playing and we’re very, very grateful to be one of them,” Jarvis said. “I think it’s really a testament to these guys. A lot of teams would not have made the commitment to really put it out in this tournament. These guys have. I think it really justifies all the faith we had and continue to have for them.”
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 130.
