NEW YORK, NY - This one was tough to swallow. Seton Hall, ranked #18 in the country, came to Madison Square Garden from just across the river for a Big East showdown against St. John’s. The Red Storm led for most of the game but gave up the lead in the late stages of the game. They couldn’t get the lead back and Seton Hall had the lead at the only moment that it counts - at the buzzer.

St. John’s lost on their home floor to Seton Hall 82-79. The game was theirs for the taking, but they didn’t make the plays at the most crucial times. All you had to do was look at the stat sheet after the game and see why St. John’s lost. It was at the charity stripe

The free throw shooting wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good enough. The Red Storm had 15 attempts and made 9 of them, but sometimes it’s when you make them that makes an impact. Hopefully, you hit free throws when your team is trying to stay ahead by a couple of possessions. Sometimes you want to hit the free throws when your team can’t make a basket when the opponent is playing defense. Another time you can make a free throw is to break a run that the other team is on. I’m pretty sure all those scenarios played out in the loss to Seton Hall.

On the other hand, Seton Hall drained their free throw opportunities. In the second half, the Pirates were awarded 10 more free throws than St. John’s had. Overall, Seton Hall made 22 of 27 free throws. If you break it down even more, they made 13 more free throws than the Johnnies. That’s not the whole case to why St. John’s lost, but it sure is convincing evidence.

It was disappointing because sophomore forward Josh Roberts scored his career high in this game, which was 16 points. Roberts was impressive because he was attacking the rim with Seton Hall center Romaro Gill in the game most of the time. Gill is 7-2 and huge compared to the players that get on the floor for the Johnnies. Gill presented problems for St. John’s, but honestly, they played well against him. Roberts is quicker than him and used that to his advantage. When he gets the ball in the paint, he is showing that he has the capability of finishing a high percentage of his attempts. He made 8 out of 11 shots to get to his career high.

Coach Mike Anderson decided to go with a guard heavy lineup, which is the way he’s been going the last few games. That decision has allowed the team to be quicker than most of their opponents, and they are like a swarm of hornets defensively when they get going. They steal the ball and make just putting the ball on the floor a risky proposition.

You can second guess the strategy, because St. John’s does have a couple of bigger bodies on the bench. Not as big as anybody on the other side, but they are bigger than 6-1. Mustapha Heron and L.J. Figueroa are both big guards at 6-5, but that’s about it. Roberts is only 6-9 and is rarely bigger than the guy he’s matched up against. However, there is no second guessing on my part. Remember, they only lost by 3 points and it had nothing to do with how big Seton Hall was.

They did let one of the best players in the Big East get going. Myles Powell finished with 29 points and made some huge 2nd half baskets. They had him under control for the first half but couldn’t keep him in that box. Sometimes that happens, a star player struggles but eventually gets it together and makes an impact.

It’s still early in the season, but you can see the sunset coming if the Johnnies don’t reverse this trend. The loss dropped the Johnnies to 1-5 in the conference. That impressive early season record is shrinking, and now they are 12-7 overall. They have made a good impression early in the season, but you can’t lose these games. Especially at home.

Anderson doesn’t believe in moral victories. However, he was proud of the way the team played. They didn’t panic, they just didn’t make the plays they needed to make to win. They aren’t afraid of the moment, never looked like they were in over their head against Seton Hall. They should’ve beaten Butler on New Year’s Eve. If they had won that game and beaten Seton Hall, that would've put a different light on the season. They would have been 14-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big East.

Heron and Figueroa scored 18 and 16 points respectively for St. John’s. Both players are the face of this year’s team and are going to have to continue playing well if the Johnnies want a successful season. However, it is promising to see the other players continue to make contributions. I see the team getting better as the season has progressed and I think they are up to the challenge.

They have to go on the road the next two games. They play at Marquette on Tuesday and have a rematch with DePaul in Chicago next Saturday. I think they will win both games. There is no analysis for that other than if they don’t win both games, they might be in limbo the rest of the season. The Johnnies need to win for no other reason except to keep their season alive.