St. John's Defeats Duke, 93-78

The St. John's Red Storm beat handily the Duke Blue Devils 93-78 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday before 19,390 fans. St. John's played tough, gritty team basketball with energy and passion. The Red Storm rose to the occasion in a marquee matchup, topping the #3 nationally ranked Dukies.

Dwight Hardy netted 26 points, and Jason Brownlee scored 20 points and had 9 rebounds. D.J. Kennedy and Sean Evans each scored 10 points for the Johnnies, who had played 8 nationally ranked team in a row this month. Duke, being the 8th team, The St. John's Red Storm (12-8) sent a message that they are a strong team, and will not be ignored in the flurry of wins and losses among the college elite.

Duke missed many three point attempts, and played a sub-par game, and the Red Storm pounced on each miss, coming down the floor and making a nice pass to the open man for a basket. St. John's had 21 assists to Duke's 9 in the contest.

This effort came off of blow-out loss to Georgetown where St. John's lost by 25 points. They decided to stick it to Duke and lead by 20+ points through most of the first half and part of the second half. They simply would not let Duke back in the game. In this game, St. John's had an answer. It was a senior who made the right pass to the open man and knocked down the basket. There are 10 seniors on this team, and they played like they wanted a Duke win on their belt.

Well, they got it. Duke got some nice treys but it was too late to amount to anything. Kyle Singler, one of the top players in the country, was nullified.

St. Johns has beaten 3 top ranked team this season, the first time in 10 years. The win over Duke was the first time in 8 years. New coach Steve Lavin had the Red Storm playing at a high level, perhaps their best game of the season.

Suddenly, there is life in the Johnnies and promise. There are more games to play
as the Red Storm face Rutgers at Carnesseca Arena later in the week.