Written by Ernie Casanova
Orlando, FL - For a game with a lot of twist and turns, the St Johns defense proved to be to dominant for the Oregon State offense down the stretch creating double digit turnovers. With the Beavers visibly slowing down throughout the game, St. Johns pulled away at the right time to defeat the Beavers by a score of 82-77.
Oregon State won the tipoff, with the first point being scored off of a three pointer by SG Stephen Thompson Jr. On the ensuing play, starting Red storm guard Bashir Ahmed connected on a jumper to make the score 2-3. It set the tone for the game, as it was a matchup that went back and forth throughout.
After a few successful possessions, St. Johns took their first lead with 15:42 left in the game off of a Justin Simon layup. Stephen Thompson Jr. proved to be too much for the Red Storm defense as he quickly regained the lead back for his team after another made 3 pointer to make it 12-9. Thompson Jr. led all scorers in the first half with 13 points, going 4-7 shooting and 3 of 5 from three-point range. The Beavers would maintain the lead for the next 13 minutes, but it wasn’t looking too promising as they were having a hard time securing the ball.
St John’s repeatedly had multiple chances off of the Beavers’ turnovers and they couldn’t convert. That in turn gave them a very poor field goal percentage of 39 for the rest of the day. The next lead change would occur with St. John’s Kassoum Yakwe hitting a pair of free throws to give the Red Storm a 37-35 lead with the first half almost closing, but would quickly be lost after a pair of free throws and a three pointer from Oregon State. Closing out the half with a 40-37 lead, the Beavers just had an answer for everything St. Johns kept tossing at them.
The Beavers had a total of 12 turnovers in the first half, in the first half and 21 for the whole game, compared to St John’s having just two. Getting eight steals, St John’s scored 10 points off of those turnovers. Still, with the second half underway and with them constantly leading, the Beavers just couldn’t pull away. On the opening possession, the Red Storm used 3 offensive rebounds to keep having a chance at a bucket and finally converted. It would stay at the score of 40-39 as St. Johns would force 3 turnovers in 3 minutes to keep Oregon State on its toes. Tres Tinkle made a three-point jumper for Oregon State to finally end the drought as it seemed that the game would continue its current course, but St. Johns just didn’t want to give in.
Going in to the 9-minute mark, Oregon State had seemed to finally pull away. They had a eight point lead coming in from a time out and all they needed to do was protect the ball. Up by a score of 62-54, it all started to go downhill for the Beavers. Marcus LoVett sinked a 3 pointer and followed it with another 2 point jumper to bring the Red Storm closer on the scoreboard. With PG Shamorie Ponds coming up with yet another steal, Bashir Ahmed made his own 3 pointer on the following possession that cut the Beavers’ lead down to three. With a score of 65-62, Ponds went to the free throw mark on a foul after the commercial break with 3 chances at the line. He sunk all of them, and in turn tied up the score after 34 minutes of battle. Finishing out the quarter, the Red Storm went on a 28-10 run to finish out the Beavers 82-77.
Thompson Jr. led the Beavers with 22 points and 4 rebounds. He was 4-8 from 3 point range but turned the ball over 4 times. Ethan Thompson was right behind him 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting and added 6 rebounds. He also had issues protecting the ball as he turned it over 6 times. Power Forward Drew Eubanks logged in 12 points and 9 rebounds and Tres Tinkle finished with 14 points, going 6 of 6 from the free throw line.
Ponds led the way for the Red Storm tallying 26 points and 6 assists, but shot 5 of 17 from the field. Coach Chris Mullin says about Ponds: “Shamorie is pretty much like that all the time. He’s pretty levelheaded. He always wants to play well. There’s a part of him where if you looked at him you wouldn’t know if he had 40 points or 2. The one thing with him in particular is his sharpness in his cuts or his screens. Everything that he does is way more sharp then it was a year ago.”
LoVett added 18 points of his own and came up with some big shots for his team in the last quarter.
St. Johns will now face Missouri Friday for a chance to be in the Championship game on Sunday.
Oregon State won the tipoff, with the first point being scored off of a three pointer by SG Stephen Thompson Jr. On the ensuing play, starting Red storm guard Bashir Ahmed connected on a jumper to make the score 2-3. It set the tone for the game, as it was a matchup that went back and forth throughout.
After a few successful possessions, St. Johns took their first lead with 15:42 left in the game off of a Justin Simon layup. Stephen Thompson Jr. proved to be too much for the Red Storm defense as he quickly regained the lead back for his team after another made 3 pointer to make it 12-9. Thompson Jr. led all scorers in the first half with 13 points, going 4-7 shooting and 3 of 5 from three-point range. The Beavers would maintain the lead for the next 13 minutes, but it wasn’t looking too promising as they were having a hard time securing the ball.
St John’s repeatedly had multiple chances off of the Beavers’ turnovers and they couldn’t convert. That in turn gave them a very poor field goal percentage of 39 for the rest of the day. The next lead change would occur with St. John’s Kassoum Yakwe hitting a pair of free throws to give the Red Storm a 37-35 lead with the first half almost closing, but would quickly be lost after a pair of free throws and a three pointer from Oregon State. Closing out the half with a 40-37 lead, the Beavers just had an answer for everything St. Johns kept tossing at them.
The Beavers had a total of 12 turnovers in the first half, in the first half and 21 for the whole game, compared to St John’s having just two. Getting eight steals, St John’s scored 10 points off of those turnovers. Still, with the second half underway and with them constantly leading, the Beavers just couldn’t pull away. On the opening possession, the Red Storm used 3 offensive rebounds to keep having a chance at a bucket and finally converted. It would stay at the score of 40-39 as St. Johns would force 3 turnovers in 3 minutes to keep Oregon State on its toes. Tres Tinkle made a three-point jumper for Oregon State to finally end the drought as it seemed that the game would continue its current course, but St. Johns just didn’t want to give in.
Going in to the 9-minute mark, Oregon State had seemed to finally pull away. They had a eight point lead coming in from a time out and all they needed to do was protect the ball. Up by a score of 62-54, it all started to go downhill for the Beavers. Marcus LoVett sinked a 3 pointer and followed it with another 2 point jumper to bring the Red Storm closer on the scoreboard. With PG Shamorie Ponds coming up with yet another steal, Bashir Ahmed made his own 3 pointer on the following possession that cut the Beavers’ lead down to three. With a score of 65-62, Ponds went to the free throw mark on a foul after the commercial break with 3 chances at the line. He sunk all of them, and in turn tied up the score after 34 minutes of battle. Finishing out the quarter, the Red Storm went on a 28-10 run to finish out the Beavers 82-77.
Thompson Jr. led the Beavers with 22 points and 4 rebounds. He was 4-8 from 3 point range but turned the ball over 4 times. Ethan Thompson was right behind him 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting and added 6 rebounds. He also had issues protecting the ball as he turned it over 6 times. Power Forward Drew Eubanks logged in 12 points and 9 rebounds and Tres Tinkle finished with 14 points, going 6 of 6 from the free throw line.
Ponds led the way for the Red Storm tallying 26 points and 6 assists, but shot 5 of 17 from the field. Coach Chris Mullin says about Ponds: “Shamorie is pretty much like that all the time. He’s pretty levelheaded. He always wants to play well. There’s a part of him where if you looked at him you wouldn’t know if he had 40 points or 2. The one thing with him in particular is his sharpness in his cuts or his screens. Everything that he does is way more sharp then it was a year ago.”
LoVett added 18 points of his own and came up with some big shots for his team in the last quarter.
St. Johns will now face Missouri Friday for a chance to be in the Championship game on Sunday.