By Joseph Staszewski
One of the best efforts of St. John’s season could not spoil a historic day for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The Red Storm men’s basketball team led by 10 points at the midway mark of the second half before Duke went big and to a zone defense. The Blue Devils shut down St. John’s ability to get to the basket and rallied for a 77-68 victory in front of a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden Sunday. It was the 1,000th victory of Krzyzewski’s career.
“Duke made the decisive final run, the final blow and we weren’t able to answer” St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said.
No. 5-ranked Duke (17-2) went on an 18-5 run to take a 65-62 lead with 4:39 to go in the game. It was sparked by three-point plays from Quinn Cook, Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor and a top-of-the-key three-pointer by Cook (17 points) that gave the Blue Devils the lead for good at 63-62. Reserve forward Marshall Plumlee helped Duke regain control of the backboards.
St. John’s got as close as three points in the final four minutes, but could not find the offensive rhythm and explosiveness it displayed for the previous 20 minutes. The Red Storm (13-6) shot 10 of 30 from the field after the break and 0-for-7 from three.
“It’s not that we couldn’t figure out [the zone],” Harrison said. “We just weren’t making shots and they went on a run. It’s part of the game. We make two or three more shots we go up 15, 16 and it’s a different type of game.”
The loss spoiled one of St. John’s best performance of the season. Sir’Dominic Pointer scored 21 points, including 13 straight in the first half, and grabbed 10 boards. Rysheed Jordan had 16 of his 18 points before the break. St. John’s rallied from 11 points down to grab a 28-27 lead on a Pointer bucket with 5:25 to go in the first half.
“I think for 10 minutes we outplayed them, then for 20 minutes they just killed us with their athleticism,” Krzyzewski said, “Jordan and Pointer, especially. We didn’t have answers for them.”
Phil Greene tallied 13 points and a banged up D’Angelo Harrison netted 12. Harrison’s three-pointer to end the first half put the Red Storm up 43-39 at the break. Center Chris Obekpa and the Red Storm defense did an excellent job controlling Okafor (17 points, 10 rebounds), the consensus No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft should he declare.
The loss is St. John’s fifth in its last seven games and the team sits in eighth in the Big East conference standings. Lavin said the team is two to three wins behind where he would like it to be right now and its focus needs to shift to Big East play.
“We just have to take care of the rest of the Big East,” Harrison said. “This is a big game and we fell short, but we will worry about the Big East.”
