By John Tolis
March is a long way from now, but St. John’s University caught a glimpse of the NCAA tournament team it has been looking for.
Despite some recent inconsistent play by the Red Storm men’s basketball team, they hit the century mark for the first time since 1999 and routed Fordham University 104-58 Saturday during the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. St. John’s shared the ball and put on quite a shooting display.
“It was our first game at Madison Square Garden and we showed how we’re capable of playing,” St. John’s guard D’Angelo Harrison said. “We had 29 assists and only nine turnovers. This is how we play and it’s going to be tough to beat us.”
Instead of the slow starts they’ve been having, the Red Storm got out fast. From the tip, St. John’s kept moving the ball swiftly and had plenty of open looks. It held a narrow 13-10 lead early in the first half, but in a span of 12 minutes St. John’s connected on 17 straight field goals. The Red Storm shot 22 of 28 during the first half and took a comfortable 52-32 advantage into the break.
“When everything is going your way in the flow of the game, it feels good,” said St. John’s sophomore Jakarr Sampson, who scored 12 points.
The Red Storm did a good job spreading the ball around and opened things up for senior forward Orlando Sanchez. The big Dominican Republic native displayed the type of performance everybody has been waiting for and dropped 19 points, grabbing eight boards and dishing out four assists.
It wasn’t the 66 percent shooting from the Johnnies that impressed Coach Steve Lavin, but the team effort that made it happen.
“We’re a couple of months away from hitting our stride, but I think we made some progress today,” Lavin said. “It was a step in the right direction.”
Offensively and defensively from start to finish, St. John’s dominated Fordham and even contained the nation’s top freshman scorer, Jon Severe. The former Christ the King star came into the game averaging 22.3 points per game, but that didn’t matter to the Johnnies. Severe shot just 1-for-21 and scored nine points.
“We knew if we could shut them down and not let them have easy looks, it would be a long night for them,” Harrison said.
The Red Storm (6-2) onslaught on the Rams (4-3) continued in the second half as they pulled away for a 46-point margin of victory, the largest in the 85-game series between the two squads. Sir’Dominic Pointer nearly recorded a triple-double by tallying 12 points, handed a career-high 11 assists and grabbed nine rebounds. Mandell Thomas led Fordham with 15 points.
Lavin has been talking about making improvements so St. John’s can get back to the NCAA tournament. Saturday’s performance is definitely progress, but Lavin knows that it can’t stop, especially with a matchup against rival Syracuse looming Dec. 15 at Madison Square Garden.
“There are a number of things that I’m happy with, but we have so far to go,” Lavin said.
