It’s not how St. John’s thought their season would end. Not in the Garden, one of their home courts, not like this.
For a little while on Thursday night inside Madison Square Garden, it appeared the Johnnies might pull off the upset of the Big East Tournament. For the first 25-30 minutes of the game, St. John’s outplayed Big East powerhouse, and second-seeded Villanova.
The seventh-seeded Red Storm were 15 minutes and 34 seconds away from a headline-stealing win. Posh Alexander’s three pointer gave them a commanding 17-point lead — and then Villanova’s light bulb came on.
An 18-2 run by Villanova fueled their way to an eventual nail-biting 66-65 victory to propel them into the semifinal round.
Brandon Slater made the go-ahead free throws with 2.8 seconds left to put the Wildcats in front for good.
Caleb Daniels scored 19 points for Villanova (24-7). Justin Moore had 15 points and Collin Gillespie added 14 points.
The Wildcats will play third-seeded UConn or sixth-seeded Seton Hall on Friday at the Garden.
For St. John’s (17-15), the window remains open for a potential NIT bid. Their NCAA Tournament hopes, however, are dashed.
“You saw a team that probably could and should have gone to the NCAA,” head coach Mike Anderson said afterwards. “I wish we came together quicker on guys understanding their roles.”
Julian Champagnie scored 23 points for St. John’s, the junior forward scored 13 of those points in the first half.
“It’s a rough one. I feel like the guys gave it all. I feel like we played hard,” Champagnie said. “It’s hard, to say the least.”
Following their blowout win over DePaul, 24 hours earlier, Champagnie and the Red Storm were determined to carry that momentum into their matchup with Villanova.
St. John’s held Villanova to just 7 of 30 from the field (23%) in the first half. The Wildcats turned the ball over eight times, the Johnnies held them scoreless in the paint.
But Villanova is a veteran group, rarely ever rattled.
“This conference is as good as it’s ever been this year. We just knew St. John’s was really good,” Wright said. “We weren’t down. We weren’t disappointed with how we played at the half down seven… We just got out of sync a little bit.”
And St. John’s was unable to keep the door closed on them.
With an opportunity in the final moments to perhaps put the game out of reach, clinging to a 65-64 lead, Julian Champagnie had an open look at a three-pointer from the corner with 29 seconds to play. But his shot came up short and led to Villanova’s final possession. Slater put it with from the foul line with two clutch free throws.
A win would’ve sent them to the semifinal round. It would have been the Red Storm’s first semifinal appearance since they won it all in 2000.
“I thought our guys left their heart, guts and everything on the floor,” Anderson said. “Just came up a little short. Congrats to Villanova. They just hung in there, hung in there and I guess their experience kicked into gear at the end.”
Now they must wait to see what’s next.
