PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It might have been easier for St. John’s if the Red Storm had just played rock, paper, scissors against Providence.
It certainly would have been less frustrating.
In searching for their first road victory of the season (spoiler alert, St. John’s didn’t get it, as the Friars won, 63-58), the Red Storm received every opportunity. Providence shot like a gang of cadavers. Providence’s leading scorer, Alpha Diallo of Harlem, sat for eight second-half minutes with foul trouble. That sounds like the makings of a happy Red Storm night Wednesday at Dunkin’ Donuts Center.
Nope. St. John’s shot almost as poorly, at times treated the basketball like some bacteria-spewing organism and gave an often no-show effort on the boards. But the Johnnies were there at the end, which was the goal of coach Mike Anderson.
“This game came down to rebounding, toughness and the free-throw line,” Anderson said. “We did a pretty good job just hanging around in the first half and even in the second half. But we had missed opportunities to take advantage of the momentum when we made runs back.”
Despite the laundry list of horrors, St. John’s (12-6, 1-4 Big East) had a chance to tie near the end. Down 61-58, the Red Storm inbounded with 10.5 seconds left after a timeout. But Mustapha Heron’s right corner 3-pointer, contested by David Duke, was well off. Heron claimed foul, the refs disagreed. Guess whose view held?
“We were actually trying to get an attack to the basket and then have somebody spot up,” said Anderson, whose gang was drubbed 46-34 on the boards. “It could have been a foul. It could have been an and-one. Who knows? But we didn’t get either.”
Diallo led all scorers in the offensive sludgefest with 19 points. But the biggest shot of the night might have come from the Friars’ Luwane Pipkins (nine points) who hit a turnaround to just beat the shot clock with 51 seconds left, boosting Providence (11-7, 4-1) into a 60-56 lead.
“The shot of the game,” Friars coach Ed Cooley said.
LJ Figueroa scored 12 for St. John’s, which is now 0-3 on the road. Rasheem Dunn, who got a second straight start, scored 11 while Marcellus Earlington and Greg Williams Jr. each scored 10. St. John’s, which failed to follow up its Big East win over DePaul, hosts Seton Hall on Saturday at the Garden.
The Red Storm shot 37.9 percent overall, and 27.3 percent (6 of 22) on 3-pointers, missing 10 of 12 from beyond the arc in the second half.
“You go on the road you’ve got to shoot the ball,” said Anderson who bemoaned a 17-8 disadvantage in free-throw points.“Do the math.”
But St. John’s also was woeful with nine of its 13 turnovers before halftime.
“We were careless with the basketball early on,” Anderson said. “At the end of the day it was one of those games we’re going to look back on …”
And barf.