Men's Basketball Falls To St. John's, 71-60
Jan 8, 2002
By JIM O’CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK – Mike Jarvis had the postgame smile of a coach whose team had just given him an excellent defensive effort.
His St. John’s Red Storm held No. 21 Miami to one field goal over the final 16 minutes Tuesday night in a 71-60 victory.
“They attempted to do what they do best and luckily for us we did what we do best better and that is hustling our butts off and defending and defending and defending,” Jarvis said after St. John’s handed the Hurricanes their second straight loss after they opened the season 14-0.
Miami (14-2, 1-2 Big East) shot 10 percent from the field in the second half, going 3-for-30. The Hurricanes made just one of their last 22 shots from the field.
“We got impatient when they hit us with their pressure and instead of executing what we want to run we just shot the ball,” Miami coach Perry Clark said. “I’m not angry. I’m disappointed we didn’t respond better tonight.”
Marcus Hatten had 25 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals for St. John’s (11-3, 2-1), which won for the seventh time in eight games.
“Marcus Hatten was in control of the game and we didn’t do anything to get him out of his comfort level,” Clark said.
Hatten said the Red Storm picked up the intensity as the defensive success continued in the second half.
“We frustrated them on offense,” he said. “We got to them and it showed.”
Freshman Tristan Smith, St. John’s reserve point guard, hit just his second 3-pointer of the season to give the Red Storm the lead for good at 49-46 with 12:23 to play. That was the fifth lead change of the second half.
Smith’s other 3-pointer was in the last game against West Virginia.
“Maybe that one against West Virginia got him going,” Jarvis said. “He is usually going to contribute defensively so anything offensively is a bonus and we’ll take it.”
Miami got within 49-48 on a basket down low by Elton Tyler with 11:00 to play, but that was the Hurricanes’ last field goal of the game.
Hatten, who leads the team with a 17.8 average, hit a 3-pointer to make it 58-52 with 5:21 left, the biggest lead for either team in the game at the time.
As Miami continued to misfire, St. John’s freshman forward Eric King gave the Red Storm a nine-point lead twice, the first time on an offensive rebound with 4:19 left that made it 62-53 and with a layup on a nice pass from Hatten that made it 64-55 with 3:53 to play.
St. John’s could have blown the game open but went 5-for-10 from the free throw line over the final 2:04.
Anthony Glover added 11 points for St. John’s, while King had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Marcus Barnes led Miami with 16 points, all in the first half, while Darius Rice had 13 on 3-for-15 shooting.
The Hurricanes, who lost at Connecticut 76-75 on Saturday night, shot 29.8 percent for the game (17-for-57).
The game was the third of four straight on the road for Miami to open Big East competition. The Hurricanes finish the trip at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
“They did what they had to do to win at home,” Clark said. “Now we have to do what we have to do to get a win in our next game and we get to go home.”
It was one of two conference games the Red Storm play at on-campus Alumni Hall during the season rather than at Madison Square Garden.
