St. John’s fight for fifth

Earlier in the day Dwight Hardy was named the Big East Player of the Week. That night, the senior guard illustrated why he was the first Johnnie to win the award in five years as he led St. John’s to a victory over 13th ranked Georgetown.
St. John’s was able to pull out a back and forth game against the Hoyas, 61-58, in the 94th matchup of this historic series on Monday, January 3. Hardy led the team with 20 points, the fifth time in six games he’s reached that plateau.
The final six minutes saw eight lead changes and three ties. After two made free throws by Georgetown gave the Hoyas a 58-57 lead with 23 seconds left, St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin called an isolation for Hardy. The newly-crowned player of the week was able to get to the rim, but misfired. His drive caused the defense to collapse around him, allowing Justin Brownlee to grab the rebound and score the game-winner. Hardy added two free throws for the final score.
Since the Red Storm lost at Fordham, they have been able to reel off five straight wins, including the first three in Big East play, putting them atop the conference.
“I think we learned a great deal about ourselves since that loss [to Fordham],” said Lavin.
“Since then we’ve been a different team,” added Justin Burrell, who added 8 points and was on the receiving end of a crowd-pleasing, gravity-defying alley-oop before fouling out.
The Johnnies had lost their previous 10 games to West Virginia, seven straight to Providence and 14 in a row against ranked opponents, all streaks that have come to an end in the past three games.
If St. John’s recent play is any indication, fans can expect many other losing streaks the team has built up over the previous lean years to be eradicated just the same.
And this surge has been led by Hardy or “the baddest man on the planet,” according to Burrell after the game that saw Hardy on the floor for every minute for the second consecutive game.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said Hardy about playing, and winning, in front of the home crowd in “the best arena in the world.”
The Johnnies are 3-0 in the Big East for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. Storm fans remember that team as the last group to win the Big East tournament. With this game being the first in a stretch of eight consecutive games against top 25 teams, fans will find out shortly if this team is strong enough to do the same.
With two conference road wins and a third win over a ranked opponent, for the first time in years fans have reason to believe it is.