St. John’s Tops Maryville in Exhibition Action
QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John’s men’s basketball team played its first and only exhibition matchup of the year on Thursday night, topping Maryville University, 71-57, inside Carnesecca Arena.
Leading by just a pair with four and a half minutes to play, the Red Storm closed the game on a 12-0 run to pull away from the Saints.
LJ Figueroa paced the Johnnies in his first competitive action at Carnesecca Arena, scoring 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting. The 2018 NJCAA All-American also grabbed seven rebounds, nabbed three steals and blocked two shots.
Shamorie Ponds, the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year, stuffed the stat sheet against the Saints, tallying 13 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals. Marvin Clark II also finished with 13 points in addition to grabbing nine rebounds for St. John’s, which outboarded Maryville, 47-31, on the evening.
As a team, the Red Storm assisted on 17 of its 30 made baskets and surrendered just nine turnovers. Ponds and Justin Simon combined for 12 assists and only two turnovers. Simon finished with eight points, six rebounds and six helpers.
Sedee Keita added nine points and seven rebounds in his first intercollegiate competition at Carnesecca Arena, while Bryan Trimble Jr. netted eight points in 20 minutes of action.
With St. John’s leading 4-3 and just under five minutes gone in the game, a Figueroa layup kicked off a 9-0 run for the Johnnies. A Trimble triple capped the tear for the Red Storm, who led 13-3 with 12:22 to go in the first half.
Maryville responded with a 9-0 spurt of its own to pull back within one, 13-12, less than two minutes later. The Johnnies then answered with six-straight points, taking a 19-12 edge with seven minutes remaining until the break.
The Saints continued to show fight in the waning minutes of the first half, using a 7-0 run to knot the game at 19 before the Johnnies entered the locker room with a 30-24 advantage.
Trailing 37-35 after a Casey Teson three with 16:46 to play, the Johnnies outscored Maryville, 16-2, over the next five minutes, taking a double-digit lead for the first time of the night and moving ahead by 12, 51-39, with 11 minutes to go.
Maryville battled back over the next several minutes, shaving the deficit down to two on a pair of occasions down the stretch. Ahead by that same two-point margin, 59-57, with four minutes to play, St. John’s scored the game’s final 12 points and held the Saints off the board completely the rest of the way.
St. John’s will officially kick off the 2018-19 campaign on Tuesday, Nov. 6, playing host to the Greyhounds of Loyola Maryland at 6:30 p.m.