St. John’s basketball outlasts Providence in overtime

St. John’s basketball grinds out tough overtime win at home over Providence 

On Sunday afternoon in Queens the St. John’s basketball team looked to get back in the win column after a disastrous and humbling 107-59 loss to Creighton on Friday afternoon.

The last time the Johnnies and Providence Friars collided was on January 14, and the Friars came away with a 56-49 in Alumni Hall.

For a while, this game looked like it would mirror that contest as both teams got off to an incredibly slow start to the game with the score 12-6 in favor of the Red Storm after the first 10 minutes.

St. John’s shot just 3-for-18 from the field and Providence 2-for-14 in the first quarter.

At halftime, the Johnnies looked comfortable leading 28-18 after a second quarter with several runs to stretch out their lead.

However, Providence came out of the break on a 9-2 run to cut down the deficit and outscored the Johnnies 18-9 in the third quarter. The Friars took the lead for the first time at 36-35 with 2:02 left in the third.

Then, Camree Clegg, who set a new career-high with 23 points on her Senior Day, hit a layup with time expiring in the third to give the Johnnies a 37-36 lead.

The final 10 minutes of regulation provided plenty more offense as a back and forth contest ensued.

A pair of threes from Leilani Correa and Danielle Patterson late on looked like it would be enough to give the Red Storm the win, but Friar guard Grace Efosa would draw a foul on Rayven Peeples with 21.7 seconds left and sunk the free throws to tie the game at 50.

The final play of regulation saw Kadaja Bailey drive baseline and throw up a jumper that was short, Peeples grabbed the rebound and tipped the ball in, but not before the buzzer sounded so bonus basketball was needed in Queens.

Peeples set a new career-high with 17 rebounds in the game.

St. John’s basketball takes control in overtime

The Johnnies absolutely came out firing in the overtime period outscoring the Friars 18-12 to close out the tough 68-62 win.

Correa had 20 points albeit on 7-for-23 shooting to support Clegg as they were the only Red Storm players in double figures.

When asked postgame what was the message for the team coming into today after Friday’s massive loss was Head Coach Joe Tartamella said: “In all my time I have spent here, I have not been part of a team that has had that happen to them, so it was more about understanding and respecting the jersey they wear and the pride they should have stepping out on the floor…today would show us what we are about more than Friday.”

The Johnnies certainly weren’t the best offensively on the day, but made shots when they needed to and made a concerted effort on defense to make life tough for the Friars forcing 18 turnovers to take the message to heart.

St. John’s now moves to 11-16 on the season, 7-10 in Big East play. Next up, they will take on UConn in Stoors on Friday at 7 PM. The Johnnies lost 75-57 to the Huskies in Carnesecca Arena back on January 25th.