Shamorie Ponds hits the game-winning shot in OT to defeat VCU.
November 21, 2018
After going off for 32 points just 24 hours earlier, Shamorie Ponds played the part of the hero once again on Tuesday night in his home borough. The junior guard exploded for 35 points in the championship tilt of the Legends Classic, leading the St. John's men's basketball team past VCU, 87-86, in overtime at Barclays Center.
Ponds scored the Red Storm's final six points of the evening in the closing minute of overtime, going 4-for-4 from the free throw line before banking in a driving layup with four seconds left on the clock and the Red Storm trailing by one. The two teams traded leads seven times in the final 90 seconds of the contest.
Ponds, who scored 25 of his 35 points after halftime, set a Legends Classic record with 67 points in two games. He smashed the previous record of 52 set by Texas' AJ Abrams during the inaugural event in 2007.
In addition to his scoring efforts, Ponds also dished out seven assists, surrendered just one turnover, blocked a shot and set a new career high with seven steals. Ponds became just the ninth player in program history to record seven or more steals in a game and the first Johnnie to do so since Sir'Dominic Pointer on Dec. 28, 2014 against Tulane. That contest also took place inside Barclays Center.
Ponds, who entered the night ranked 26th on the Red Storm's all-time scoring list with 1,301 points, jumped two spots to no. 24, passing St. John's legends John Warren (1966-69- 1,306) and Mark Jackson (1983-87- 1,328).
Ponds led four St. John's players in double figures, including a 15-point, nine-rebound effort from LJ Figueroa that included a put-back and-one to give the Johnnies a one-point lead with 1:25 to go in overtime. Marvin Clark II finished with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Mikey Dixon needed just four shots to score 10 points, going 4-for-4 from the floor and 2-of-2 from long range.
Justin Simon added nine points, five rebounds and four steals, while Mustapha Heron chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.
With their Legends Classic crown, the Johnnies notched their first win in an early-season tournament since 2010-11, when the Red Storm took home the title at The Great Alaska Shootout before finishing the campaign with 21 wins and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade.
The Johnnies have now begun each of their last two seasons with five-consecutive wins. The last time St. John's accomplished that feat in back-to-back years came in Chris Mullin's junior and senior seasons, 1983-84 and 1984-85.
VCU fell to 4-1 on the year after a game that featured 24 lead changes and 16 ties.
The Red Storm and the Rams exchanged blows in the early going of the contest, as the two teams traded leads 11 times in the first 16 minutes of action. Neither team led by more than four during that stretch.
Trailing by four, 28-24, with three and a half minutes remaining until the break, the Red Storm rattled off four in a row to knot the score at 28. Hanging onto a one-point lead after a Ponds jumper with 1:23 to go, VCU outscored St. John's 5-1 in the final minute of the half to take a 36-31 edge into the intermission.
VCU continued to expand its advantage in the opening minutes of the second half, moving ahead by as many as eight, 47-39, with less than four minutes gone in the stanza. Five-straight points from Simon kick-started a 12-5 run for St. John's, as Ponds pulled the Red Storm within one, 52-51, on a long three-ball with 12:48 to go.
St. John's got within one on three more occasions over the next few minutes, but could not seem to completely close the gap.
The Johnnies finally broke through with seven minutes remaining in regulation, as Ponds converted on a fastbreak layup to put the Johnnies on top, 63-62. VCU promptly responded with a three on the following possession, moving back on top by a pair.
Down 68-67 with 3:44 to go, Ponds was whistled twice on the same play, as a common foul and a technical foul gave VCU four free throw tries and a chance to break the game wide open. Marcus Evans missed both of his attempts resulting from the technical foul before Isaac Vann made a pair to push the Rams' advantage back to three, 70-67.
Trailing by that same three-point margin, 72-69, with just over a minute to play in regulation, Ponds made another layup to pull the Red Storm within one. On the ensuing defensive possession, the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year came up with his seventh steal of the contest before taking it into the front court and making the most acrobatic of layups, putting the Johnnies back on top for the first time in more than five minutes.
In need of a stop to seal the victory, Ponds and the Red Storm were whistled for a foul with 5.8 seconds left on the clock. Evans missed the first before making the second and tying the contest at 73.
Needing to go the length of the floor in just five seconds, the Red Storm ran a creative inbounds play. A home run pass rewarded Clark with an open look from three, but his attempt missed and sent the contest into overtime.
Evans nailed a triple for the Rams just 12 seconds into extra time, but Ponds came up with an offensive rebound and a putback on the following possession to keep St. John's within one, 76-75.
After another jumper from Evans, Ponds and Heron tied the game with three free throws over the span of two possessions, knotting the contest at 78 apiece with two minutes to go.
Evans scored his sixth-straight point for VCU to put the Rams back ahead by two, but offensive rebounding kept the Johnnies in the game on their next trip down the floor. Heron grabbed the initial board on a missed triple from Clark, but the junior guard's putback attempt missed its target. Figueroa corralled the second miss before converting through contact, completing the old-fashioned three-point play and giving St. John's its first overtime lead, 81-80, with 1:25 to play.
The game turned into a free throw shooting contest over the next 1:15, as VCU went 6-for-6 and Ponds made all four of his tries to make it 86-85 in favor of the Rams with 10 seconds to go.
Trailing by one, the Johnnies needed to go the length of the floor and everyone in the building knew who would get the shot. Ponds drove the left side of the lane before elevating over a pair of defenders and banking one in off-glass, putting the Red Storm back on top by one, 87-86.
Evans attempted a three-ball at the buzzer for VCU, but his contested shot fell short and the Red Storm left Brooklyn with a championship.
St. John's returns to action next Tuesday, as the Red Storm welcomes Maryland Eastern Shore to Carnesecca Arena for a 6:30 p.m. tip on FS1 and 970 AM WNYM.
Story Credit: RedStormSports.com