St. John’s Has Little Trouble Advancing

For those of you who have already conceded the national championship to Duke--and isn’t that all of you?--we offer a possible stumbling block by way of Jamaica, mon.

Jamaica, New York.

St. John’s continued to take the NCAA tournament by Red Storm on Thursday night in the South Regional semifinals, holding Maryland scoreless for more than 10 minutes in one span en route to a convincing 76-62 victory before a crowd of 23,898 at the Thompson-Boling Arena.

St. John’s (28-8) has raced through the South with a 26-point win against Samford, a 25-point victory over Indiana and a 14-point win against Maryland, the nation’s fifth-ranked school.

Thursday’s victory advances the Red Storm to Saturday’s regional final against Ohio State.

“I’m not normally at a loss for words,” first-year St. John’s Coach Mike Jarvis said. “But it was a great, great, team effort.”

All the talk entering the game was of Maryland junior guard Steve Francis, a schoolyard legend from Takoma Park, Md, who considered jumping to the NBA after junior college.

All the talk leaving the game was of St. John’s freshman guard Erick Barkley, who finished with 24 points and nine assists. Francis had 13 points and two assists.

Barkley said he wasn’t trying to prove anything. In fact, he and Francis did not guard each other.

“I was playing with a tremendous amount of confidence,” Barkley said. “I felt like no one could guard me out there.”

Barkley did not have to say much to make his points.

“Erick never considered himself a freshman,” Jarvis said. “We never referred to him as one one and obviously, he does not play like one.”

The game?

St. John’s trailed, 19-18, with 8:26 left in the first half before closing with a 20-0 run.

That was about it.

The Red Storm strangled the Terrapins with the 2-3 zone Jarvis employed so effectively in last weekend’s romp over Bobby Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers.

St. John’s forced 13 first-half turnovers and held Maryland to seven-of-23 shooting (30.4%).

“Right now, it’s my favorite defense,” Jarvis boasted of his zone. “Right now, I’m getting a lot of calls to lecture. And the price has gone up.”

It appeared the Red Storm would be able to pick the final score after going up by 26 points, 56-30, on guard Chudney Gray’s two free throws with 10:58 left. Francis had to leave the game temporarily at that point after committing his fourth foul.

But Jarvis said he knew Maryland would make a last stand.

“I anticipated the run,” he said. “I told the kids it was coming.”

It came. The Terrapins went on a 19-2 run to chop the lead to nine, 58-49, on Francis’ layup with 6:31 left, but St. John’s never panicked and soon extended the lead back to double digits.

“Was I nervous?” Jarvis said of Maryland’s burst. “You bet your life I was. Did I think we were going to lose? No.”

Maryland (28-6) never recovered from the first-half blitz.

The Terrapins entered averaging 85.2 points per game, but finished with 62, tying their lowest output of the season.

Maryland Coach Gary Williams blamed himself for his team’s first-half execution against St. John’s zone.

“We saw their game against Indiana, when they went zone,” Williams said. “We expected to be able to attack it.”

Instead, the Terrapins took the easy way out. They tried to beat the zone with outside jumpers.

Maryland made one of five three-point attempts in the half and five of 20 for the game.

“I know we did settle for the first outside shot,” Williams said. “That is not the way we play basketball.”

Francis led Maryland with 13 points. No other Terrapin player had more than nine.

Bootsy Thornton added 17 for St John’s.

As for that Duke angle. St. John’s took the Blue Devils to overtime during the regular season, yet the schools could not meet until the NCAA title game.

St. John’s still has some work to do. Even if it wins the South Regional, the Red Storm likely will face an NCAA semifinal matchup against Connecticut, which defeated St. John’s twice this season.