St. John’s magical March Madness ride comes to crashing end with disappointing loss to Arkansas
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – In the building where St. John’s once celebrated, it suffered heartbreak.
Nearly three months ago, they won here at the buzzer at Amica Mutual Pavilion, one of the memorable moments of this unforgettable season.
Saturday afternoon, it was the site where the dream year came to a sudden close.
There will be no Sweet 16 for Rick Pitino and his Johnnies.
They will have to settle for a frustrating second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament after this 75-66 loss to No. 10 Arkansas and John Calipari.
Second-seeded St. John’s Achilles’ heel — shooting — was its undoing.
The Red Storm shot a nightmarish 28 percent, went 2-for-22 from 3-point range and got almost no production from stars RJ Luis Jr. and Kadary Richmond. The Johnnies rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second half, but couldn’t get even.
Twice, they had chances, but Luis and Zuby Ejiofor missed contested shots.
Arkansas’ length and athleticism was too much.
Obviously, it didn’t help that Richmond managed just five points in 16 foul-plagued minutes or that Luis, the Big East Player of the Year, shot 3-for-17 from the field and was on the bench for the final 4:56.
Ejiofor was St. John’s best player by far, notching 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Deivon Smith added 13 points and six rebounds.
The loss ends a remarkable year that saw the Red Storm win their first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985 and first Big East Tournament crown in 25 years.
But they had higher hopes — of reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time in 26 years.
It was a familiar first-half script: a slow start. St. John’s found itself down 14-6 at the first media timeout after missing eight of its first 10 shots.
They pulled even at 24 following a 10-2 run that was powered by Ejiofor and led by as many as four, but closed the half by missing their last seven shots and going scoreless over the final 2:38.
Arkansas scored the final seven points of the half to take a three-point lead into intermission.
Still, it could’ve been much worse.
Richmond played only six minutes due to foul trouble. Luis was 2-for-12 from the field.
As a team, the Johnnies shot 23.8 percent and made just one 3-pointer, which came from reserve Lefteris Liotopoulos, in 13 tries. Ejiofor scored 16 points in the half — as many as all of his teammates combined.
Arkansas had far better balance, four players all scoring at least six points, though starting big men Jonas Aidoo and Trevon Brazile were limited due to foul trouble.
St. John’s shooting struggles continued into the second half.
They were down 10 after an Aidoo dunk with 16:25 remaining in the game. Arkansas scored 18 of the first 27 points of the second half and took a 13-point lead with 11:32 remaining.
The Johnnies reeled off seven straight points to get within six at 55-49.
They were within four points twice in the final minutes, but never could get even.
The clutch basket and the key stop eluded them.
Instead of a flight to San Francisco, they are going home for good. The Sweet 16 will have to wait for next year.
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