The St. John’s Red Storm have suddenly dominated this old Big East rivalry, blowing out Syracuse 93-60.
With St. John’s reeling, coming into this game, you figured Syracuse would break their two-game losing streak vs. their old Big East rivals.Guess what? It was the same old story like it was the last two years between these two, but even more astonishing this season.
St. John’s came out on top, yet again, in a rivalry that’s suddenly dominated by the red. The Red Storm crushed the Orangemen 93-60 at the Carrier Dome. It was the worst loss Syracuse had at home in awhile and it was the second largest win St. John’s had over Syracuse in their history.
This is from a St. John’s squad, coming in at 5-7 and having bad losses to teams like Delaware State and LIU. In their last game, St. John’s also got blown out at home to Penn State 92-76.
Syracuse came into this game at 7-5, after a 48 point win over Eastern Michigan.
It was, clearly, St. John’s highest moment of the season.
Even more impressive was the fact that they did it without two of their players in Frederico Mussini and Amar Alibegovic. Both of them combined for 32 points in St. John’s victory over Syracuse last season at the Garden.
There were a bunch of different heroes on Wednesday. Bronx native Bashir Ahmed led the way with a game-high 20 points. Brooklyn native Shamorie Ponds had 19 pts, continuing his strong freshmen year. Malik Ellison who had his best collegiate game in the last game vs. Penn State, had 16 points. Marcus Lovett had nine assists and seldom used Richard Freudenberg had his best game with nine points.
Head coach Chris Mullin, who had many great battles with Syracuse as a St. John’s player back in the 1980’s, is now 2-0 vs his old Big East rival as head coach. That’s one more win than the total number of wins he had vs. Big East opponents last year.
Speaking of Big East, St. John’s next game is against the Butler Bulldogs at Carnesecca Arena on December 29 as they begin their conference matches.
St. John’s has had an inconsistent stretch so far this year with some moments where it looks like this team is taking major steps to be a contender once again. There were also moments where they show their immaturity and figure they’re not there yet.
After a few rough stretches lately, this win, however, is a huge momentum changer that could perhaps catapult the Red Storm as a force for the rest of the season.
