By Anthony Bosco
Marcus Hatten toed the line with 0:00 showing on the game clock, and Madison Square Garden, which had been rocking and rolling all afternoon, became as quiet as a church.
Hatten had just stolen the ball from Duke’s Daniel Ewing at midcourt with about five seconds remaining in regulation of a game tied at 71. The St. John’s standout made a bee line for the basket and was fouled in the act of shooting an instant before the final buzzer sounded.
With the ball still in the air, Hatten seemed to know it was good. He nearly fell to the floor, but instead leaped into the air and was caught by his teammates before ever reaching the floor.
The St. John’s men’s basketball team scored a miraculous upset Sunday, beating the No. 6 ranked Duke Blue Devils, 72-71, scoring the final 12 points of the game while holding the visiting ACC power scoreless over the final four minutes.
The win improved St. John’s record to 13-12, garnered head coach Mike Jarvis his 100th career win at St. John’s, perhaps finally silencing the critics who have been calling for the head coach’s job throughout a very erratic and disappointing season, and certainly got the team closer to postseason play.
“His kids played their hearts out,” said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “They would never be knocked out, and as a result they stayed in there. They made tough plays and won. That’s a credit to [Jarvis] and his kids.”
Hatten, who finished with a game-high 29 points, never needed the second of two free throws and was hoisted off the court by center Abe Keita. A half hour later, Hatten’s feet seemed like they were still off the ground.
“I was able to move my feet and stay in front of him without the referee calling a foul and the ball was just there,” he said. “I just stuck my hand in there and came out with a pot of gold.
“I knew how much time was on the clock and I knew I could get to the basket,” Hatten added. “I knew I had plenty of time to grab the ball and go the distance of the court. I knew there was about four seconds.”
The turnover was part of a pattern over the final minutes of the game after St. John’s employed a full-court trap that rattled the Blue Devils to their very core. The normally calm and composed Duke team came apart at the seams, failing to score any points down the stretch.
After Duke’s Dahntay Jones (23 points) hit one of two from the line with 4:05 remaining, the Red Storm came alive. Grad student Anthony Glover scored with 3:48 remaining to pull the team within nine before Hatten scored 28 seconds later to make it a seven-point game.
The senior guard out of Baltimore then shook off a Duke defender and canned a three with 2:21 on the clock. The Blue Devils coughed up the ball at midcourt on their ensuing possession, setting up a three from a wide open Anthony Glover (12 points) to pull St. John’s within one, 71-70.
With the capacity crowd on its collective feet, Jones fouled out with 1:30 remaining and put junior center Kyle Cuffe on the line. Cuffe, who finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, hit one of two to tie the game.
Both teams missed opportunities to take the lead, including a Hatten running jumper that Duke recovered with less than 30 seconds on the clock. Ewing worked the ball up court and in an effort to get the ball to Chris Duhon (15 points, 6 assists) was stripped by Hatten at midcourt.
The rest is history, at least for St. John’s.
“There was too much chaos,” Krzyzewski. said. “I thought with what happened at half court we might be able to go to the free throw line. All of a sudden there was that. The spirits of the Garden took over.
“But that didn’t tell the tale,” he added. “We should have been better all game. We didn’t play nearly as well as we’ve been playing. Certainly much of that has to do with the intensity with which they attacked the boards and came to play today. This is a great win for St. John’s. I would not put it in a time capsule.”
Duke was uncharacteristically average, hitting just 16-of-29 from the charity stripe, being outrebounded 41-34 and turning the ball over 16 times to SJU’s eight.
But St. John’s was also uncharacteristically sound. The Red Storm grabbed 21 offensive rebounds and took only six three pointers, hitting three. However, the Johnnies shot just under 39 percent for the game, while Duke shot 53.3 percent.
The game was close for most of the first half with the Blue Devils taking a 38-35 lead into the locker rooms at the midway point. Duke’s largest lead was 12 after Ewing hit two free throws at the 9:14 mark. But Hatten, along with Glover, combined to score all but one of the Red Storm’s points down the stretch, outscoring Duke 22-9 during the span.
“I’m very happy for the kids,” Jarvis said. “The victory is great. I think today meant a lot for everybody.”
Notes: Inspiration came from an odd source for the Red Storm, who received a pregame pep talk from New York Jets head coach Herm Edwards.
“It went right through each and every one of us,” Jarvis said. “I was ready to go into my pocket and pull out some cash and throw it in a hat for him. That’s how good he was. It became electric.”
The loss was the first by Duke against a non-conference foe this season, snapping a 26-game win streak against non-ACC competition dating back to an 84-83 loss to Stanford on Dec. 21, 2000.
St. John’s will wrap up the regular season this week with its final home game against Rutgers Thursday at Madison Square Garden and a road game at Miami Saturday. A win in either game guarantees the club a trip to the NIT Tournament.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 130.
