For those of us who forgot:
FIRST GAME BOXSCORE
https://redstormsports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2023-24/no-17-18-marquette/boxscore/14149
Recap
St. John’s Late Rally Falls Short Against No. 17/18 Marquette at MSG
The Red Storm nearly erases a 13-point deficit with 6:20 to play before falling to the Golden Eagles, 73-72, on Saturday
NEW YORK – The St. John's men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to No. 17/18 Marquette (13-5, 4-3 BIG EAST), 73-72, on Saturday before a crowd of 12,214 inside Madison Square Garden.
The Red Storm (12-7, 4-4 BIG EAST) nearly rallied all the way back from a 13-point deficit with 6:20 remaining and had two opportunities to take the lead in the final 10 seconds.
Daniss Jenkins scored eight of St. John's final 10 points and had a look to win it at the buzzer, but his 3-point attempt was just off the mark.
Jenkins finished with 16 points shooting 6-for-13 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. Red Storm sophomore wing
RJ Luis Jr. scored a season-high 20 points, going 7-for-18 from the field with two 3-pointers and a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the free-throw line.
Chris Ledlum recorded his fifth double-double of the season with a 13-point, 11-rebound effort, while
Joel Soriano chipped in 11 points and nine boards for the Johnnies.
After trailing by six at halftime, the Golden Eagles shot 75.0 percent (18-24 FG) from the field in the second half and knocked down 6-of-9 (66.7 pct) 3-point attempts. All five Golden Eagle starters scored double-figures, including a team-high 17 points from senior Oso Ighodaro. The 6-foot-11 forward shot 8-for-10 from the field.
It was a seesaw battle for the opening 13 minutes of the game, as there were seven lead changes and the score was tied on six occasions. Following Tyler Kolek's layup that gave the Golden Eagles a 22-20 advantage at the 7:09 mark, St. John's answered with a 16-4 run to open a double-digit advantage with 1:28 to go in the period. Ledlum capped the spurt with a pair of offensive rebounds before converting a layup to put the Red Storm up 34-24.
Marquette managed to trim its deficit to 34-28 at the break by finishing out the half with two layups from junior guard Stevie Mitchell. Mitchell had eight of his 12 points in the first half. Backcourt mate Kam Jones also recorded eight of his 11 points in the first 20 minutes of action.
Luis led the Red Storm into the locker room with nine first half points, while Ledlum pulled down 10 of his 11 rebounds in the opening frame.
After missing all 11 attempts from 3-point territory in the first half, Marquette hit four of its first five attempts from distance in the later stanza. David Joplin knocked down the team's first triple just 12 seconds into the half to get the Golden Eagles going. The junior forward finished with 13 points and hit a team-high three 3-pointers.
Luis helped anchor the Red Storm's offensive production in the first four minutes of the second half. The Miami native doubled his point total by scoring nine of the team's first 14 points to help the Johnnies keep pace with the hot-shooting Golden Eagles. On the defensive end of the floor, Luis recorded three steals, including a swipe of Kolek to set Jenkins up for a breakaway slam that gave the Red Storm a 48-43 advantage at 16:03.
Marquette responded with a 10-1 run as Mitchell and Ighodaro posted four points each to push the Golden Eagles ahead, 53-49. From there, the Red Storm managed to tie the game twice, but could not reclaim an advantage.
The Golden Eagles opened its largest lead of the game, 71-58, on Joplin's third 3-pointer of the game with 6:20 to go. However, St. John's would not go away easily as the Red Storm closed the contest on a 14-2 run, giving the team a chance to win the game.
After Kolek scored Marquette's final points of the game with a pair of free-throws at 2:55, the Johnnies scored the last six points of the contest.
Brady Dunlap set Jenkins up for a 3-pointer with a one-handed save before falling out of bounds with 2:33 on the clock. Soriano's putback layup made it a 73-71 ballgame at 1:35. Then Jenkins went 1-for-2 at the line with 38 seconds remaining to bring the Red Storm within one.
The Golden Eagles missed the front end of two one-and-ones at the free-throw line to give St. John's two chances to win the game. With 10 seconds remaining, Ledlum had a 3-point look in front of the St. John's bench that was off the mark. The Red Storm got its final opportunity after Kolek's miss at the line. With 4.3 seconds on the clock, St. John's went the length of the court and got Jenkins a contested attempt from 3-point range that hit the front of the rim.
