Published: February 07, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y.
Red Storm senior Wooden and Naismith candidate Lamont Hamilton
scored 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots to
help St. John’s overcome a sluggish second half and hold off South
Florida, 66-62, at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday night. Playing his
second-straight game with a tender, hyperextended finger on his
left hand, sophomore Anthony Mason Jr. added 13 points and junior
Avery Patterson 11 as the Red Storm won its second consecutive game
and moved into ninth place in the BIG EAST standings.
With the win, St. John's improved to 14-10 overall, 5-6 in the
BIG EAST and 8-1 at Carnesecca Arena, while South Florida fell to
12-12 overall and 3-7 in league play.
Hamilton scored 10 points in each half and went
basket-for-basket with USF center Kentrell Gransberry, who finished
with 20 points and 19 rebounds. The Red Storm’s five starters
combined for 15 assists and just four turnovers, and St. John’s
committed a season-low six turnovers in the contest.
Patterson had a career-high four assists and knocked down three
free throws in the final 33 seconds to help seal the win.
The teams went back and forth at the start of the first period,
and the Red Storm gradually opened a 16-12 lead with 11:10
remaining in the half. On St. John’s next possession, Mason Jr. and
Hamilton both came up with offensive rebounds on missed jumpers and
Hamilton knocked down a jumper in the lane to spark an 8-0 run for
the Red Storm.
The Bulls would get as close as nine points, 24-15 with 9:29
remaining, but St. John’s closed the half with a 16-4 run to take a
40-19 lead. Hamilton scored 10 points to lead a group of six
different Red Storm players with at least four points, and St.
John’s knocked down 7-of-13 attempts from long range. Reigning BIG
EAST Player of the Week McHugh Mattis led the Bulls with seven
points and two blocked shots in the half and finished the game with
16 points and five rejections, while teammate Melvin Buckley
contributed 15 points in the losing effort.
Bolstered by a second-half performance from Gransberry that
included 15 points and 13 rebounds, USF used a 30-11 run that cut
the lead to two, at 51-49 with 6:30 to play. That’s when Hamilton
went to work, scoring two buckets and assisting on a dunk to
freshman forward Qa’rraan Calhoun. After a seven-point St. John’s
lead was whittled down to two on a bucket by Chris Howard and a
3-pointer by Melvin Buckley, Patterson and Mason Jr. combined to go
5-of-6 from the free throw line over the last 33 seconds to
preserve the victory.