St. John's Ends Season With Overtime Loss To WVU
BY DAN MILLER

St. John's University guard Larry Wright hits a jumper and leads the team in scoring in an overtime loss to West Virginia at MSG in the final game of the season for the Red Storm. Photo by Dan Miller/DMD IMAG

On Saturday March 8, the Red Storm faithful filled the lower stands at Madison Square Garden to support the St. John's University basketball team (11-19, 5-13) in their final game of a dismal regular season against Big East rival West Virginia (22-9, 11-7). St. John's needed to win the last two games of the season to have a chance to make the Big East Championship Tournament. They lost both games to teams that had already clinched spots in the tournament, Notre Dame and West Virginia

The Red Storm was blown out by the Fighting Irish at South Bend on Wednesday, March 5, losing to Notre Dame, 68-55. The game on Saturday at the Garden had the same results, a loss of 83-74 in overtime. But the final score did not represent the hard-fought game that left the teams tied at the end of regulation at 68 all. It took a five-minute overtime period for West Virginia to defeat St. John's by outscoring them, 15-6 in the extra frame.

St. John's was led by 6 foot, 2 inch sophomore guard Larry Wright, who scored 20 points (including 6-9 from 3- point range) with teammates junior guard, 6 foot, 7 inch Anthony Mason Jr., 17 points, and freshman forward D. J. Kennedy, adding 10. Senior guard, 6 foot, 1 inch Eugene Lawrence, who played his last game for the Red Storm, hit for 10 points, and freshman forward 6 foot, 3 inch Paris Horne scored 9 points.

The West Virginia Mountaineers, slated to begin play this week in the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden, were led by junior forward Joe Alexander, who led all scorers with 29 points on 8-19 from the floor and 13-15 from the foul line. In all, West Virginia hit 30-42 foul shots to 7-18 for St. John's. St. John's lost the game at the foul line. Their nine missed free throws were the difference in the final score.

Also scoring in double figures for the Mountaineers were sophomore forward 6 foot, 7 inch De Sean Butler, 17 points 7- 16 from the floor and 1-4 from the foul line. Alex Ruoff, 6 foot, 6 inch junior guard, added 15 with 5-9 from the floor and a perfect 4-4 from the foul line. Butler and Alexander each had 10 rebounds to lead the Mountaineers. West Virginia outrebounded St. John's 37-34. West Virginia hit 43.8 percent of its field goals to St. John's 43.8 percent from the floor. While this losing season sent many home wondering when their team would win another game, the coaching staff was positive about the future. In fact, Head Coach Norm Roberts was rewarded with a oneyear extension of his contract to continue his rebuilding program at St. John's.

This year's squad had eight freshmen. Their lack of experience was pointed out as a major factor in the poor showing this year by the coach. Coach Roberts indicated that he believes that St. John's will do better next season, with the team having experience gained through playing together this year under their collective belt.

West Virginia Head Coach Bob Huggins, who is in his first season with West Virginia (22-9), has a win-loss record of 612-220 in a career that spans 26 years.

St. John's junior captain Anthony Mason Jr. and freshman Justin Burrell were listed among Big East Conference top players on Monday, as both were named to respective all-league squads. Mason received an honorable mention nod- the first All-Big East honor of his career- while Burrell was included on the 11-man Big East All-Rookie Team.