St. John’s Drops BIG EAST Opener
QUEENS, N.Y. (Dec. 28, 2017) – Trailing by just one point at the intermission, the St. John’s men’s basketball team saw Providence shooting a blistering 68.8 percent from three-point range in the latter stanza, as the Red Storm dropped its BIG EAST opener, 94-72, on Thursday night at Carnesecca Arena.
On the game, Providence (10-4, 1-0 BIG EAST) shot 55 percent (35-of-64) from the field and 53 percent (16-of-30) from deep.
Marvin Clark II set a pair of career highs to lead the Red Storm (10-3, 0-1 BIG EAST), tallying 20 points and eight rebounds.
Ranked among the BIG EAST leaders in a number of different categories, Shamorie Ponds stuffed the stat sheet once again, registering 16 points, six assists and three steals in 31 minutes of action.
Bashir Ahmed also finished the game in double figures, tallying 10 of his 12 points in the first half.
With three blocks on the game, Tariq Owens moved into 10th place on the Red Storm’s career blocks list (116), passing St. John’s legend Malik Sealy (114). Owens also added eight points.
Kyron Cartwright led the way for Providence, recording 21 points and 15 assists, the most by a BIG EAST player since Xavier’s Dee Davis tallied 15 against the Friars on Feb. 7, 2015. Rodney Bullock also added 20 points for the Friars, while Jalen Lindsey chipped in 18.
The Red Storm got off to a hot start from the floor, as triples from Ponds and Clark highlighted an 8-2 spurt to open the game. The Friars, however, quickly responded with seven of their own to take a 9-8 lead just after the first media timeout of the evening.
The two squads battled back-and-forth over the next several minutes before the Johnnies jumped ahead by six, 32-26, following an 8-0 run near the five-minute mark. Ponds assisted on a pair of triples from Clark and Ahmed before driving the bucket to cap the streak with a layup of his own.
Providence responded with a 9-2 tear, quickly reclaiming the lead, 35-34, on a Lindsey 3-ball with 2:49 remaining until the break.
Premium: Ponds injured