The heart was on display. The tenacity was on display. It was just too deep of a hole to dig out of for the St. John’s basketball team.
A valiant comeback effort fell short in the Round of 32 against Arkansas, 75-66.
It had a similar start as the other big games St. John’s has played in the last two weeks. Its offense struggled to find a rhythm while its defense tried to keep the Johnnies in the game, but this was different.
When it finally got going there was just 11:32 left on the clock after the Razorbacks opened a 13-point lead. Deivon Smith led the charge getting the Johnnies back within two on multiple occasions but could never get over the hump.
The backbreaker was a non-foul called on Zuby Ejiofor that resulted in a missed layup with the Red Storm trailing 66-64 and 3:26 left. Billy Richmond hit a jumper on the other end to push the lead to four and the Johnnies called a timeout. Smith committed a turnover and D.J. Wagner cashed in with a layup.
It was all she wrote on the historic season for the Johnnies.
The final 6:28 was played without Kadary Richmond after he fouled out and the final 4:56 was played without RJ Luis due to a coach’s decision. Richmond had just five points on 2-of-87 shooting while Luis really struggled with nine points on a season worst 3-of-17.
St. John’s shot 28-percent from the floor (21-for-75) and 9.1-percent from 3-point range (2-of-22).
Ejiofor was the only player who thrived for the Red Storm with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
The pressure mounted quickly, and the shots never started falling. Even then, the Red Storm made a push in the first half to take a small lead, it never carried over like it normally does.
When St. John’s finally found its offense with ten minutes to go, it was its defense and rebounding that fell flat.
The Johnnies finish the season 31-5 as Big East regular season and tournament champions.