By Anthony Bosco
St. John's victory over Connecticut in the Big East Tournament championship game came on the heels of two heart-stopping wins over Villanova and Miami.
The Red Storm defeated the Wildcats Thursday in the quarterfinals, 75-70, after trailing by one in the final minute and came back the next night to top Miami, 58-57, when sophomore Anthony Glover connected on two foul shots with 2.2 seconds remaining in the game.
St. John's trailed, 57-56, with 2.8 seconds to go in their semifinal match-up when Barkley inbounded the ball from under the Miami basket and found a wide-open Glover on the wing. Glover went up strong and was fouled on the way to the hoop.
The Rice High School graduate, who was 3-of-8 from the line for the game, calmly sank both free throws to give St. John's the lead.
The following inbound pass from Miami went to freshman Leroy Hurd, who was fouled by senior Lavor Postell, who lunged for the ball, but banged into the Hurricane player with 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock.
Hurd, the worst free throw shooter on the best free throw shooting team in the Big East, missed the front end of the one-and-one opportunity. The ball was then batted away as time expired and St. John's advanced.
“I don't know what more could happen in two seconds than happened tonight,” Jarvis said after the game. “It was just incredible.”
Chudney Gray and Postell led with 14 against Miami, while Postell had 18 in the win over Villanova, along with 21 by Bootsy Thornton, 11 from Erick Barkley and 10 from Reggie Jessie.
