Following their second straight conference loss Sunday to Georgetown, (69–49) St. John’s Red Storm (8-9) interim coach Mike Dunlap hit it right on the head when asked afterward about their recent second-half struggles. “Conditioning becomes a factor—our reserves are a little shallow,” said the understated coach of a team whose seven-man rotation returns just 3 percent of their scoring from last season.
The Johnnies, who trailed just 25–19 at the break Sunday, had held the Hoyas to just 9-29 shooting during the first half. In particular, Georgetown forward Hollis Thompson had no points after taking six shots.
Just like their previous game though (an 83–64 loss at Marquette) their once-tenacious defense wore down following halftime, becoming slower in extending the zone to the 3-point shooters.
Against Marquette on Wednesday it was senior guard Darius Johnson-Odom who went for 18 points in the second half to turn a 32–31 St. John’s halftime lead in to the 19-point Golden Eagles victory.
Sunday it was Hollis Thompson, of whom head coach John Thompson III said (with a chuckle) didn’t realize he was zero for the first half, hit all seven shots, including five-3s, after the intermission.
The result was 20 of the Hoyas 44 second-half points en route to their 20-point win.
“Hollis got loose on us,” said an obvious Dunlap afterward.
Though St. John’s youth and lack of depth caught up with them, as is expected when playing five freshman, it is a quality rotation.
Freshman forward Moe Harkless, who is second among freshman in the conference in scoring, and tops in rebounding, put up 21 points and 10 rebounds against Georgetown—both were team-highs. “He’s tough,” said an impressed John Thompson III afterward.
The young but tough Johnnies now travel to South Florida (10-8) Wednesday looking for a win.
