|
|
 |
 |
|
| |
Tuesday, Feb. 29 7:30pm ET
Red Storm, minus Barkley, win 8th straight | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (AP) -- St. John's eight-game winning streak includes last week's sweep of three ranked teams _ Syracuse, Connecticut and Duke -- and three without leading scorer Erick Barkley. The sophomore guard was declared ineligible by the NCAA on Tuesday for a rules violation. Hours later, the Red Storm (No. 21 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) beat Seton Hall 66-60 behind 28 points by Bootsy Thornton to complete a perfect February.
"We didn't find out until 10 minutes before the game," St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said. "If it wasn't for the love for Erick and the respect these guys have for him, they wouldn't have even played tonight. Every coach dreams of saying `Win one for the Gipper,' but it doesn't happen. Tonight, they won one for Erick. They weren't going to lose. "The only bad part is these guys think they can win without Erick, and that would be terrible." It was the second time this season the Red Storm's leading scorer missed games because of an NCAA ruling. He also missed the opening two games of the winning streak earlier this month against Boston College and Providence. The school said it would seek immediate reinstatement for Barkley and that there had been no indication from the NCAA over how long he would be ineligible. St. John's said it found no rules had been broken in its investigation of how Barkley's tuition at Maine Central Institute was paid. But the NCAA said it found violations and told the school to declare him ineligible. Barkley, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday, was suspended for three games earlier in the season over his exchanging vehicles with a family friend. That was later reduced to two games. Thornton finished 11-for-19 from the field for the Red Storm (21-6, 12-3 Big East), who clinched at least a third-place finish in the conference and earned a bye in the opening round of the Big East tournament.
"Every player had to take it up a notch and it was just my turn to be the leading scorer," Thornton said, adding that it helped that Barkley was sitting on the bench during the game. "It was like he was in foul trouble." Chudney Gray's 3-pointer capped a 12-2 run that gave St. John's a 57-48 lead with 5:36 to play. Seton Hall (19-8, 10-6) got within 63-60 with 40 seconds left on a drive by Ty Shine, but those were the Pirates' final points as they turned the ball over on the next two possessions. Gray, who finished with 13 points and seven assists starting in Barkley's place, made two free throws with 22 seconds left and Anthony Glover added one with 7.2 seconds left for the final margin. "You put everything in perspective," Gray said. "Erick is the centerpiece of this team, and we knew we wanted to win for him." Lavor Postell had 12 points for St. John's, which finished 8-0 this month, its first perfect February since 1973-74. "The players probably don't realize what they've accomplished the last 29 days but I certainly do, especially under these unbelievable, adverse, trying conditions," Jarvis said. "We have the bye and now we have a chance to win the Big East championship." The Red Storm close the regular season Sunday at Miami. Holloway finished with 22 points for the Pirates, who have lost four of five, including their last four conference games, and Darius Lane added 13 points. "It is very disappointing how we played," Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker said. "I think they took us out of things that we tried to run. I thought we were tentative at times. I thought Gray played an outstanding game and Thornton was just unstoppable." The Pirates don't play again until the Big East tournament and Amaker said he hopes the NCAA selection committee remembers how well his team played during the season. "Certainly we're not playing the way we want to play at this point in the season," he said. "I think a lot of people have seen us throughout the country and felt that we are a team that has overachieved and has done a tremendous job to put ourselves in a position to get strong consideration." | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Mike Jarvis says his team is handling adversity well.wav: 336 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 | |||||||||
