The chaos of the St. John’s basketball team cost itself a chance at victory against No. 18 Creighton.
The sold out crowd at Carnesecca Arena nearly caved the roof in of the 62-year old building when Kolby King gave the St. John’s basketball team the lead, 49-48, with 11:53 left in the second half against No. 18 Creighton.
The Johnnies had rallied by as many as 10 points, but the chaotic play in which allowed King to finish at the rim was the exact reason why the Red Storm were not leading by more.
A full-court pass from David Jones to AJ Storr was tipped and nearly stolen by Creighton’s Shereef Mitchell but fell right into the hands of the St. John’s freshman for an easy layup.
It was just one of many plays in which the Johnnies were looking for a home run to keep its momentum but instead struck out.
“I thought we got anxious,” head coach Mike Anderson said of his team’s struggles to capitalize on Creighton missing 13 consecutive field goals in the second half over a 7:34 span.
“The things we did to get ourselves back in it, I thought we got away from that.”
St. John’s (16-12, 6-11 Big East) remained in striking distance, 58-57, with 6:35 to play as the Bluejays were in the midst of another cold stretch of 3:11 but the Red Storm were, again, unable to capitalize.
“We had a couple turnovers,” Anderson said. “We tried to make the home run plays when all we had to do was make three or four more passes.”
Arthur Kaluma would hit the next three shots for No. 18 Creighton (18-9, 12-4 Big East), all 3-pointers, to put the game out of reach as the Bluejays would win, 77-67.
“I thought we had Creighton on their heels and I don’t think we took advantage of it,” Anderson concluded as his team saw its brief two-game winning streak snapped.
St. John’s basketball sees another guard suspended
St. John’s announced prior to the game that Andre Curbelo would miss his third straight game due to a coach’s decision while Rafael Pinzon would also miss Saturday’s game for failing to meet team standards.
Anderson would not answer any questions about either player following the game.
“What happens with our team, stays with our team,” St. John’s captain Joel Soriano said.
St. John’s has now dropped six straight games against Creighton, five losses coming by double-digits.
The Red Storm return to action on Wednesday night (9:00p.m., CBS Sports Network) against Georgetown (6-21, 1-15 Big East) in Washington D.C.