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Storm stymied in lopsided loss at Seton Hall

Storm stymied in lopsided loss at Seton Hall
Photo by Robert Cole
By Laura Amato

Chris Mullin didn’t bother mincing words Sunday afternoon.

The second-year St. John’s head coach watched his squad drop an 86-73 showing at Seton Hall and made sure his players knew he wasn’t particularly impressed with their performance or their effort.

“I told them at halftime, they were soft and selfish,” Mullin said. “To me it’s the imprint you put on the game. [Seton Hall] came out more physical and aggressive and that set the tone for the game.”

St. John’s (9-12, 3-5) came out cold from the opening whistle, trailing by 20 points at the break and while the Red Storm grabbed back a bit of offensive momentum down the stretch, the squad never seemed to really threaten the Pirates.

Seton Hall star Angel Delgado was a consistent thorn in St. John’s collective side, a force on both sides of the ball, as he finished with a whopping 21 points and career-high 20 rebounds.

It was the first 20/20 game in Big East play since Providence’s Jamine Peterson accomplished the feat in 2010.

“He looked like Moses Malone today,” Mullin said of Delgado. “He carves out space and keeps it. He’s got good hands and takes his time. Anytime you get 20 points and 20 rebounds, you are doing a lot of good stuff.”

It wasn’t just Delgado, however, who excelled on the boards. Seton Hall’s entire roster seemed to haul in rebounds, notching multiple shots on the same offensive possession and limiting the Red Storm’s opportunities on the other end of the court.

By the final whistle, the Pirates out-rebounded St. John’s 45-33 and out-scored the Red Storm 46-30 in the paint.

“It hurts us a lot, especially when we’re not at the right place at the right time,” said freshman guard Marcus LoVett. “Teams take advantage of that and they grab rebounds. I believe if we were at the right places at the right time, we could battle with those teams on the stat line. That’s something we have to fix and that’s fixable.”

LoVett was one of the few offensive brightspots for the Storm, racking up a team-high 22 points – the seventh time this season he’s notched 20 points or more this season. He didn’t, however, get much help from backcourt mate Shamorie Ponds who was held to just nine points.

It was only the second time this year Ponds failed to reach double figures, snapping a 19-game streak of scoring ten points or more.

St. John’s did turn things around in the second half – shooting 51.4 percent in the final 20 minutes of play – but it was simply too little, too late.

Seton Hall, meanwhile, did just about everything right, shooting 51.6 percent from the floor as eight different players put points on the board.

The Red Storm fell to 1-3 in road conference games after the loss, a disappointing effort fresh off a strong victory over DePaul at Carnesecca Arena Jan. 16. It’s another bump in the road for St. John’s as the young roster continues to face growing pains this season.

“Part of it is experience. And it’s not just the games,” Mullin said. “The other thing is learning how to practice and [analyzing] scouting reports. All of these things are new to these guys.”