St. John’s 54 – Rutgers 51
PISCATAWAY – In schoolyards throughout Brooklyn today, youngsters who dream of playing Big East Conference basketball won’t be practicing the fantastic shot that gave St. John’s a gritty 54-51 upset win at Rutgers last night.
They’ll be playing defense – tough, hard-nose, in-your-face defense.
That’s what St. John’s coach Norm Roberts preaches. That’s what Eugene Lawrence and Cedric Jackson delivered in the Rutgers Athletic Center.
After Aaron Spears hit a jump hook giving the Red Storm a 52-51 lead with 38 seconds left, everyone in the RAC – especially Lawrence – knew the ball would be in Quincy Douby’s hands.
“I was messing with him throughout the whole game,” said Lawrence. ” ‘Settle down. Don’t shoot.’ Man, he could really shoot.”
Lawrence and Douby have a mutual respect born on the streets of Kings County. Douby, the Big East’s leading scorer, played at Grady. Lawrence, who epitomizes the Red Storm scrappiness, played at Lincoln.
There isn’t a prep rivalry anywhere in the nation more hotly than the Coney Island red hot. Twice in the next 30 seconds, Lawrence got Douby to give up the ball.
“Douby’s one of the best shot-makers I’ve ever seen,” said Roberts in complimenting Lawrence’s defense.
There would be much more drama before St. John’s center Lamont Hamilton swished both ends of a one-and-one with 4.4 seconds left to snap a six-game losing streak for the Red Storm, but for one night the RAC was transformed into a Brooklyn battleground.
“Me and Quincy go way back,” said Lawrence, who was enrolled in Canarsie High School when Douby played for Grady. “I’ll talk to him later. We’re friends with the same people.”
Friends have been hard to come by for Roberts and Rutgers coach Gary Waters. Midway through the second half, fans in the student section unfurled a bright yellow banner that read, “Fire Waters.”
The Red Storm was playing its first game without star guard Daryll Hill, who’s out for the season with a knee injury, and had lost 29 of its last 30 Big East road games.
Now St. John’s (11-12 overall, 4-8 in the Big East) and Rutgers (14-11, 4-8) are tied for the last spot in the league tournament. The teams play their regular season finale March 5 in Carnesecca Arena.
“This was a desperate time for us,” said Lawrence.
Desperate times; desperate measures. Jackson defended Douby in the first half and held him to 3-of-11 shooting. But it took a toll. C.J. was so dehydrated that Lawrence had to defend Douby (23 points on 8-of-23 shooting) in the second half.
When Douby hit a 3 from the top of the key with 59.7 seconds left, Rutgers led 51-50. Spears countered with the jump hook with 38 seconds left. That’s when Douby and Lawrence went eye to eye. Douby blinked.
“He’s a tough New York City kid, like me,” Douby told The Post. “You see how he’s leading his team in the Big East and I’m leading mine.”
When Douby gave up the ball a second time, Anthony Farmer had to launch a long jumper from the top of the key. St. John’s got the ball out of bound with 6.6 seconds left but Anthony Mason Jr. was called for a 5-second inbound violation. Douby missed another 3 from the right corner and Hamilton was fouled.
Before he stepped to the line, Lawrence went up to his teammate.
“I told him, ‘Don’t worry, I got these,’ ” said Hamilton.
And he did.