Lately, I've be thinking how both of these team's have been playing. Very good! St. John's and Georgetown both had even records in the Big East of 6-6. The perfect match up at the perfect time.. An old but new Big East conference rivalry I thought this game would be. I did know that both teams were hungry, but it was about who wanted it the most from start to finish. “We were hungry for this win,” said Harrison, who finished with 24 points and solidified his place at the front of the list for the Haggerty Trophy. “We came out with a lot of energy and sustained it for 40 minutes.”
From the start of the game the Johnnies went up 15-0 with 13:42 left to go in the first half. It's like they came out of the starting blocks way ahead of the pack. By 10:49, second half, the Hoyas managed to pull within seven points on a basket made by Aaron Bowen assisted by Jabril Trawick. Before this play Trawick had just made a three pointer.
I found these interesting paragraph's in the New York Times sports article this morning about the Johnnies conditioning, not saying the Hoyas are not conditioned because they are. Last night the Johnnies seem to have to the edge on lots of hustle plays.
"Throughout the course of its march back to respectability in the Big East, St. John’s came to rely on two numbers. The first is 60, which is the name of a daily practice drill passed down from the special assistant Gene Keady, who inherited it from Eddie Sutton, who learned it from Hank Iba — a ball-control and passing exercise that rewards sound decisions and fundamentals.
A point is awarded for each successful pass, 5 points for a layup, 5 points for every foul. There is no dribbling. First team to 60 points wins. And the losing team runs 17s: sprints the width of the court, back-and-forth, 17 times in no more than 1 minute 2 seconds. If even one player fails to finish in time, the pattern is repeated, as many times as it takes to beat the clock. “We’re in shape,” the senior guard D’Angelo Harrison said last week, with a wink.
If it all sounds like training camp revisited, that is essentially the back-to-basics approach that Coach Steve Lavin and the Red Storm needed to take after losses in their first five Big East games. His team needed to retool, said Lavin, who made certain that happened by using a coach’s heavy touch: mindless drilling and endless sprinting."
Something did seem different about the Johnnies this time around. They were getting the extra rebounds, loose balls & and ones. I thought in a crucial situation with 6:11 to in the game, down by ten points and still with a chance to comeback and win the game, the referee makes a bogus double technical foul call that put junior guard Jabril Trawick, the Hoyas defensive stopper, on the bench for good with five fouls.
This would would quickly changed the momentum of the game on the defensive end for the Hoyas. Soon afterwards there was a turnover by Starks with 5:30 to go in the game.Still down by twelve points the Johnnies missed a jumpshot, Starks recieves a pass from teammate Aaron Bowen he pushes the rock and quicky shoot's a three pointer and misses..
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win. -Roger Bannister
At this time game in the game a better decision should've been made to get to the basket.. There was still plenty of time to set the offense up and call a play or timeout. This would've been a smart decision to make and execute in a crucial situation. Soon afterwards, the Hoyas failed to score d for almost four minutes.
The Hoyas had been playing pretty good defense and chipping away at the score.Down 12 with 5:12 left to go in the game get to the basket. Keep chipping away, keep playing smart I was thinking. The Hoyas were shooting at a very high percentage from the free throw line, so this was a given. The Hoyas were 15-17, 88.2% from the line. Johnnies were 22-30, 73.3% from the line. Starks played 40 minutes once again. I think he needs more rest along the way. This will help a great deal. Still have some more games to win need ALL of his energy mentally and physically.
Alhough the the Hoyas got 26 points from the bench. Thirteen of those point came from Trawick, nine from teammate Aaron Bowen.. The Hoyas had fourteeen turnovers. Seven of those turnovers came from the Hoyas guards in during some crucial sitiuations. I have to give the Johnnies defense some credit as well. Leading scorer for the Hoyas was D'Vauntes Smith-rivera, (15 pts., 3 asts., 2 stls., 1 reb.). Nate Lubick ( 6 pts., 4 asts., 6 rebs.). Freshman Reggie Cameron only play eight minutes and ended up scoreless tonight.
Keep fighting don't let life get you down, get up, some how, some way, there is a light, get up, climb through it, wake up, keep it moving let's go Hoyas! - GH
Up next for the Hoyas will be on the road at Seton Hall! Hoya Saxa!
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