St. John's Loses To Niagara
BY DAN MILLER

D.J. Kennedy scoring 2 of his 10 points in a 4-point loss to Niagara for St. John's first home loss of the season. Photo Dan Miller/DMD Images

Coming into its game with Niagara on Saturday December 15, the St. John's Red Storm had not lost a home game and Niagara had not won a road game. St. John's only loss of the season up to last Saturday came at the hands of the University of Miami, 66-47 in Miami. In that game St. John's trailed by only two near half time but only shot for 25 percent in the second half.

The first score of the game came from Niagara, with Stanley Hodge hitting a 3-pointer. The Red Storm responded from 3-point range by Eugene Lawrence. Moments later, Larry Wright also hit a 3-pointer, giving SJU a 6-3 lead. St. John's led by as many as 6 points at three different times in the first half. They did not trail by more than 1 point, except for the opening score in which they trailed 0-3. The game was tied three times, with five lead changes highlighting the first half, which ended with St. John's leading by 2 (38-36), despite 11 turnovers.

In the first half, Niagara's Charron Fisher, who entered the game tied for the national scoring lead (27.0 points per game), led all scorers with 12 points, hitting 4-16 from the floor, 1-4 from 3-point range and 1-4 from the free throw line while playing 18 minutes. His teammate Hodge, a guard, hit for 11 points on 3-5 from the floor, 1-2 from 3- point range and 4-4 from the free throw line during his 19 minutes of playing time.

D. J. Kennedy was the leading scorer for the Red Storm, with 8 points on 3-4 from the floor and 2-2 from the free throw line. His teammates, Lawrence and Wright, each added 5 points. St. John's hit for 80 percent from the foul line, but had only 5 shots, with Niagara keeping clear from getting into foul trouble in the half.

Niagara opened the second half by tying the game at 38- all on a jumper in the paint by Charron Fisher. St John's led through most of the second half with the very large, pro St. John's audience seeing five lead changes and the game tied four times.

St. John's had its largest lead (5 points) of the second half, leading 64-59, on a jumper by Wright with 5:20 to go in the game. From that point on, Niagara was very aggressive on offense and stingy on defense, outscoring St. John's 18 points to 9 in mounting a comeback win that sent them home with a 5-3 record and their very first win on the road for this season. St. John's took the lead 68-66 on a jumper by Wright with 2:59 left in the game, but could not hold it. This was the Johnnies' first loss at home, with their record dropping to 4-2. Wright was the Red Storm's leading scorer in the game.

Wright scored 18 points on 7-12 from the floor and 4-7 from 3-point range. He had no points from the foul line in 27 minutes of play. In all, St. John's had two players who had double-doubles. Justin Burrell scored 13 points and pulled down 10 rebounds and Kennedy scored 10 points and had 11 rebounds. Burrell's double-double was his fourth in five games. Two additional players scored in double figures. Paris Horne scored 12 points and pulled down four rebounds while his teammate, Lawrence, hit for 11 points and pulled down 3 rebounds. St. John's out-rebounded Niagara 38-37, but trailed them badly on points scored from the free throw line.

Niagara scored 32 points from the foul line on 48 shots (69.6 percent), while the Red Storm scored only 9 points going 9-16 (56.3 percent) from the free throw line.

Following the game, Norm Roberts, St. John's basketball coach, said, "Niagara is a good team. We were careless with the ball and we make no excuses. We got into foul trouble and had to play some different lineups and do some different things. Niagara played well." On St. John's foul trouble, Roberts said, "We shot 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from the free throw line. They shot 46 free throws. You are not going to win many games when they shoot 46 free throws."

Wright, a sophomore guard, added, "We had a lot of open looks, but we would probably prefer to drive a little bit more and get to the free throw line. We had open looks, we just weren't getting them down."

A win against Niagara on Saturday would have kept alive a four-game winning streak at home for the Red Storm. In their 98th meeting with Niagara St. John's held the edge 71-26. This was only Niagara's second win over St. John's in the last 47 years.

All St. John's games thus far have been in non-conference play. St. John's begins its Big East Conference games in January, visiting Syracuse on Wednesday, January 2, followed by a visit to Carnesecca Arena by Cincinnati on Saturday evening January 5 for a 6 p.m. start.

St. John's travels to Hawaii to compete in the 44th Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic. As the Gazette went to press there were no results from the tournament. The 44th Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic schedule is:

• Wednesday, December 19, St. John's vs. Ohio

• Friday, December 21, St. John's vs. either Lafayette or Hawaii

• Saturday, December 22, Championship Rounds

St. John's fans can listen to the games played in the Rainbow Classic live on the Internet by visiting the St. John's Web site, www.redstormsports.com. The site will provide daily Internet postcards, photo galleries, game recaps, journal entries from the team and live streaming Internet audio of all of the games