Red Storm Survives Upset Bid

Without Posh Alexander and while lacking the energy and defensive grit throughout a listless first half, St. John’s narrowly avoid an upset at the hands of lowly and winless St. Francis-New York on Tuesday night.

The Brooklyn school and Northeast Conference foe built a double digit first half edge and sustained the lead during the second half, albeit Julian Champagne and Montez Mathis were able to fend off the spirited upset bid en route to a 76-70 victory.

Champagnie scored a game-best 23 points on 10-for-20 shooting. His defense and ability to turn in monumental buckets down the stretch were critical. Mathis wound up with 20 points, with a smoking 8-for-10 from the field as his stat line. He connected on 4-of-8 free throws.

Stef Smith did a most commendable job filling in for Alexander, scoring 10 points and handing out a game-best six assists.

Alexander, who was sidelined and had his foot encased in a boot, is day by day as far as his return from an injury sustained during the Indiana game.

Trey Quartlebaum’s 3-pointer spurred a 10-2 run that was capped off by a 3-pointer from Larry Moreno, the New York City native who starred at Brooklyn Law and Tech HS, as SFNY seized a 31-21 first half lead with 6:47 remaining in the first half.

Moreno, who finished with 15 points and hit 4-of-9 from 3-point range, connected on a 3-pointer that built the lead back to eight, 39-31, with 2:19 remaining.

SJU answered by scoring seven of the final eight points of the half with 2:04 remaining, a run kick-started by a Champagnie layup and capped off by a Dylan Wusu lay in at the buzzer to close the deficit to two, 40-38, at the half.

Champagnie got free for a dunk and a layup which triggered a 14-4 run that gave St. John’s a 75-68 lead on Smith’s layup with 2:12 remaining. Ultimately, SFNY buckled and crumbled under the weight of Big East defense during the final six minutes of the game.

Tedrick Wilcox led St. Francis New York with 19 points and six rebounds. Champagnie’s eruptive second half took place while SFNY was mired in an offensive power outage. The Terriers scored just six points over the game’s final 10:15, committing nine turnovers during that span. And so, the spirited spree lasted until mid-way through the second half.

Wusu, a product of Our Savior Lutheran HS in the Bronx, made the most of the suddenly increased minutes in Alexander’s absence. He scored 10 points and grabbed seven boards while dishing out four assists to go with four steals.