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St. John’s Basketball: Johnnies run former Big East rival out of Carrier Dome

By Carmine Carcieri

Dec 21, 2016; Syracuse, NY, USA; St. John
Dec 21, 2016; Syracuse, NY, USA; St. John /
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St. John’s basketball earns a marquee win for their program, while Syracuse is officially in the midst of a ‘CodeRed.’

Grayson Allen is still tripping opponents. Louisville defeated Kentucky in another thrilling college basketball game. And Virginia beat California in a rock fight.

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But the most surprising result of the night came from Syracuse, NY, where a St. John’s Red Storm team that was previously defeated by Delaware State, LIU Brooklyn and Penn State, ran the Syracuse Orange out of the Carrier Dome.

St. John’s beat their former Big East rival, 93-60, for the third time in the last three seasons. Three years ago, Phil Greene IV had a sensational performance in the closing minutes to capture a road victory, and last season, the Johnnies shocked the Orange at Madison Square Garden during a year in which they won just eight total games.

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On Wednesday night, the Johnnies brought their A-game against the ‘Cuse once again.

St. John’s had three players score in double figures, Shamorie Ponds (21 points, seven assists and six rebounds), Bashir Ahmed (20 points) and Malik Ellison (nine points). They also received help off the bench from Richard Freudenberg and Tariq Owens, who scored a combined 18 points.

Marcus LoVett, who played in just his second game following a sprained ankle, also pitched in, scoring seven points, dishing out nine assists and grabbing six rebounds.

St. John’s balance and ball movement was tremendous, as they picked apart Syracuse’s vaunted 2-3 zone. Chris Mullin’s team had a superb 27 assists on 34 field goals, drilled 12-of-29 3’s (41 percent) and shot a highly efficient 53 percent from the field.

But the Johnnies also showed energy and aggressiveness. After showing inconsistent effort in numerous games early this season, SJU was making plays on the defensive end and got out into transition often.

While the team’s defense was much improved from their previous games (Mullin switched their defensive looks on occasion Wednesday night), Ellison was the star of the show on that end of the floor. The 6’6″ sophomore face-guarded Andrew White for the entire night, limiting ‘Cuse’s top scorer to an ugly two points on 1-of-6 shooting.

Syracuse shot just 33 percent from the field and 17 percent from beyond the arc. It also didn’t help that Tyler Lydon (16 points and 10 rebounds) was dealing with a strained Achilles.

Regardless, this is a huge victory for St. John’s as a program. They are currently in the midst of a long rebuilding process with a young group of talented players. They’re going to deal with their fair share of ups and downs, but this could be a confidence booster as they get ready for Big East play at the end of the month.

St. John’s isn’t going anywhere this year (as evident by some of their ugly losses), but winning games like this will help them make progress in the long run.

Meanwhile, Syracuse is in loads of trouble. This was supposed to be a team that could challenge for a top four slot in the ACC. In fact, Jim Boeheim was raving about his team before the season, as he believed they were better than the Final Four squad from last year.

At this point, Syracuse looks like an NIT team, if that. Their losses against South Carolina and Wisconsin were excusable, but they’ve been defeated by a bad UConn team and St. John’s and Syracuse at home since.

Their guard play is a major cause for concern as John Gillon and Frank Howard combined to score nine points on 3-of-18 shooting. They also turned the ball over a combined five times (four from Howard).

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So while St. John’s is riding high on Thursday, the Orange have lost three of five. This could get ugly for Boeheim and company.