St. John's leaves much to be desired in victory

It wasn’t easy. It certainly wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. 

Those are the knowns. 

The unknown is whether what transpired over the course of St. John’s 83-68 win over Lafayette Saturday at Carnesecca Arena will benefit the program.

“We,” coach Mike Anderson said after St. John’s improved to 2-0, “have a lot of work to do.”

There is validity to that belief. The Red Storm’s deep and athletic roster is built to press and play at a high tempo. But there is also a value in being able to play–and win using–different styles.

Joel Soriano, whose second half performance carried the Red Storm. In the opening 20 minutes, Soriano only had two rebounds and did not score. In the final 20 minutes, he accounted for 13 points and eight rebounds.

“I came into the second half with a different mindset,” Soriano said. He went on to explain that he needed to come into the game with an aggressive mindset.

David Jones led the Red Storm with 20, and Dylan Addae-Wusu chipped in with 14. Andre Curbelo finished with 10.

“It’s a good team win,” Anderson said.

Inside the small, sweltering gym on the corner of Union Turnpike and Utopia Parkway, the Red Storm found itself in a fight for the second straight game against an opponent perceived to be inferior. 

Although perception is not always reality. 

Case in point: Merrimack, whom the Johnnies routed 97-72 last Monday night, was projected to win the Northeast Conference. On the other side of the coin, however, is Lafayette. The Leopards only returned one senior, Leo O’Boyle, and are expected to finish last in the Patriot League.

Whether that comes to pass will be determined over the course of 31 games in four months. But for a team playing the second of four straight on the road to begin its regular season schedule–Lafayette dropped a 67-54 decision to the Miami Hurricanes in the season-opener Monday night, and will visit St. Joseph’s Monday night and UMBC Friday before tipping off their home slate the next night against Central Connecticut State–the Leopards did not appear awed by the Big East program with high expectations for itself.

Entering the second half with a two-point lead, Soriano touched the ball in the low post on St. John’s first three possessions and as a result accounted for three of the Red Storm’s six points in the stretch.  

“I know what my team expects of me,” Soriano said. 

St. John’s extended its lead to 41-37 and never looked back. The Red Storm led by as much as 16, and Jones’ two-handed semi-breakaway jam with 3:06 left ended any thought that the Leopards could pull off a miracle comeback. 

The Red Storm had a slight 34-32 lead at the end of a first half in which they shot 39.3% (11-for-28) from the field and were outrebounded 19-13. Nine players saw playing time in the opening 20 minutes with Posh Alexander’s 17:39 leading St. John’s, followed by David Jones’ 15:53. Jones, the transfer from DePaul, made his minutes count as his 14 first-half points led both teams. 

Despite getting 17-point performances from T.J. Berger and Josh Rivera, Lafayette fell to 0-2.

O’Boyle contributed 14.