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Tuesday, Jan. 25 7:30pm ET
St. John's snaps two-game losing streak | |||||
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BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (AP) -- It was only appropriate that after a game in which neither team shot 40 percent from the field, most of the talk was about a blocked shot. Lavor Postell of St. John's (No. 23 ESPN/USA Today, No. 25 AP) came up with the big block of a drive by Joel Salvi of Rutgers with 20 seconds to play Tuesday night and the 25th-ranked Red Storm went on to a 61-57 victory. "That was an amazing play. He came out of nowhere," said St. John's Erick Barkley, who scored 18 points, including his team's final five of the game. The 6-foot-6 Postell low-keyed the play, saying "it was just a good hustle play, that's all." When pressed, he expounded a bit. "They broke the press and (Rashod) Kent got the ball to Salvi, and he thought he had a dunk so I had to adjust his shot for him," Postell said. Rutgers coach Kevin Bannon had a "no comment" when asked about the block, but he did credit the Red Storm for making big defensive plays down the stretch. "That's a veteran team that got us to lose our composure a couple of times and we paid the price," he said. The 6-7 Salvi, who finished with nine points and 10 rebounds, credited Postell for almost making a clean block. "When he (Kent) passed the ball to me I had no idea he was behind me," Salvi said of Postell. "Obviously he got up higher than I did and he definitely got a lot of ball but he got me with the body. It was a call that went their way." Postell had 16 points, nine rebounds and one other block for St. John's (13-4, 5-1 Big East), which snapped a two-game losing streak. The Red Storm lost to Seton Hall and Ohio State -- blowing a 10-point lead with 2:48 to play -- last week after beating then-No. 5 Connecticut on its home court. "Normally I would be disappointed after a game like this because of shooting percentage or lack of execution offensively or defensively, but this is not a normal time," St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said. "This was an important victory for us especially coming off that emotional, disappointing loss on Saturday." Postell's free throw with 3:19 to play gave the Red Storm the lead for good at 56-55. Barkley then hit a foul line jumper with 2:45 to play and three seconds left on the shot clock. Salvi scored on a rebound with 1:19 left to bring the Scarlet Knights (11-7, 3-3) within 58-57. Barkley, who was just 7-for-20 from the field, then hit a driving jumper with 28 seconds to play and the shot clock again in single digits. Postell made his big defensive play eight seconds later and Barkley closed it out with a free throw with 7.3 seconds to play. "I give them credit down the end for stepping up the defense," Bannon said. "They were scrappy and disruptive." St. John's overcame a horrible shooting start -- the Red Storm missed 13 of their first 14 shots -- by closing the first half with a 10-1 run to get within 29-26 after trailing by as many as 12 points. Neither team led by more than five points in the second half. Chudney Gray added 11 points for St. John's, which finished 25-for-63 from the field (39.7 percent). The Red Storm were 1-for-11 from 3-point range with Barkley missing all five of his attempts. "There was just a lid on the basket tonight," Jarvis said. "When that happens you have to pick up a little on the defensive end and the guys did." Dahntay Jones led Rutgers with 18 points and 10 rebounds. It was his basket that tied the game 55-55 with 4:25 left. Jeff Greer had 11 points, all but two coming on 3-pointers. The victory was the sixth straight over Rutgers for St. John's, a streak that dates to Jan. 29, 1997. "That's one we really feel could have been a great win for us," Bannon said. "We had a lot to do with how we did not get that one tonight and that's a shame." | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Red Storm guard Erick Barkley makes the steal.avi: 690 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Erick Barkley passes to Reggie Jessie for the jumper.avi: 736 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Lavor Postell floats in for the put-back layup.avi: 737 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||