Published: December 29, 2006
NEW YORK (A.P.)
St. John's senior forward Lamont Hamilton made one of two free
throws with 1:05 left in overtime to give St. John's a 45-44
victory over Boston University on Thursday night in the opening
round of the Aeropostale Holiday Festival. The Red Storm (9-3), the
two-time defending champion in the tournament, won its seventh
straight game and will play Hofstra, which beat Saint Joseph's
65-63, in the championship game on Friday night at Madison Square
Garden.
The 2006-07 St. John's team is the first since the 1999-00 squad
to win as many as seven in a row. Friday's championship game gives
the Red Storm the chance to become just the second St. John's team
to win three-consecutive Holiday Festival titles. A win over the
Pride would match the accomplishment of legendary mentor Lou
Carnesecca's 1987 team, which captured Holiday Festival
championships in 1985 and '86 prior to the victory in
'87.
"I told my guys that there are going to be nights like this that
are bad where we didn’t play very well, but we have to fight
through it," said St. John's head coach Norm Roberts. "I am happy
we won the game and I am happy we fought through this.”
Hamilton, a 70 percent free throw shooter entering the game,
finished with nine points and 13 rebounds. The 6-foot-10 senior was
coming off a career-high 36 points in a win over Columbia last
week.
After Hamilton missed the second free throw in overtime, Boston
University (3-7) missed a chance to take the lead when Tyler Morris
missed a 3-point attempt.
St. John's called a timeout with 31 seconds left and was running
down the clock when Daryll Hill made a spin move and threw a pass
aimed for teammate Eugene Lawrence out of bounds with 17 seconds to
go.
The Terriers didn't call a timeout and Morris was unable to get
off a shot, but he got the ball inside to Omari Peterkin whose shot
just before the buzzer bounced off the rim.
Avery Patterson led St. John's, which came into the game
averaging 70.7 points, with 16 points, while Lawrence added 10.
Peterkin had nine points and 11 rebounds for the Terriers, who
spread the court and used most of the shot clock on every
possession to try and negate the Red Storm's size advantage,
finishing even with 41 rebounds. Boston University shot 30.5
percent for the game (18-for-59), including 4-for-18 from 3-point
range.
The Red Storm shot 32 percent (16-for-50), including 4-for-17
from 3-point range.
Morris, the Terriers' leading scorer at 14.8 per game, tied the
game at 42-42 with two free throws with 20 seconds left in
regulation. He finished with eight on 3-for-12 shooting.