Through forty minutes, No. 14 St. John’s and No. 15 Iowa State went back and forth in their opening game of the Players’ Era Festival in Las Vegas, trading baskets in a cagey duel of two physical, ranked teams. A dramatic finish seemed all but certain between two sides who couldn’t separate from each other.
Similar to their game more than two weeks ago against Alabama, St. John’s mounted another double-digit comeback and put themselves in a position to secure the win despite fouls galore issued by
a whistle-happy officiating crew. However, like their loss a fortnight ago, the Johnnies spoiled their chance at a signature non-conference win by taking poor shots and wilting on the glass, falling to the Cyclones in an 83-82 duel.
Iowa State got whatever they wanted to open the game as St. John’s struggled to contain the pick-and-roll, scoring eight of their first eleven shots and making three triples to open the game. The Cyclones took their largest lead of the game with a Joshua Jefferson layup to give them a 25-15 advantage with 8:53 remaining in the first half.
St. John’s finally hunkered down, and their press began rattling Iowa State. The Johnnies triggered a 21-6 run over the following four minutes, with the Johnnies coasting into halftime with a 45-43 lead.
The second half played out like the first, with Iowa State picking apart an over-aggressive St. John’s defense on the perimeter. Milan Momcilovic looked like he was playing in his backyard, swishing corner threes and side-step jumpers. The former five-star recruit led the Cyclones with a team-high 23 points and five triples made, including a second-chance strike from the top of the key to give Iowa State a 59-53 lead with 13:58 remaining.
Right on cue, St. John’s flipped a switch offensively and took a 72-68 lead at the under-eight media timeout, only for Iowa State to lash back with their own scoring run predicated on crashing the boards. Even though Ejiofor, Hopkins, and Mitchell each had satisfactory performances on the glass, the Cyclones still out-rebounded the Red Storm by two. The foul trouble afflicting both teams didn’t help matters, either. Dylan Darling fouled out with 5:09 remaining in the second half, and Zuby Ejiofor played with a hand tied behind his back with four fouls.
When it seemed like St. John’s was pushed to the brink, Oziyah Sellers saved the Johnnies with back-to-back corner threes to give them an 80-79 lead with 2:09 remaining. The Stanford transfer posted a team-high 20 points in a breakthrough performance to keep the Johnnies in the game.
That would end up being the final time the Johnnies led, as Milan Momcilovic scored the go-ahead layup fourteen seconds later.
St. John’s painted themselves into a corner with a series of frustrating decisions in the final 100 seconds while trailing by one possession. After Joshua Jefferson missed a shot with 1:06 left, Oziyah Sellers took and missed a quick mid-range jumper with plenty of time to run a play. Thirty seconds later, off a forced turnover, Sellers missed a layup after driving into two Iowa State big men, resulting in a St. John’s foul and two free throws for Joshua Jefferson.
Down three points with 9.6 seconds remaining and a timeout in their pocket, Oziyah Sellers brought the ball past midcourt, but Rick Pitino instead opted to let the play continue. Sellers threw the ball to Zuby Ejiofor after the much taller Blake Buchanan shut off any chance of a shot attempt, but the Red Storm’s star big man made the stunning decision to hoist a three that clanked off the front-iron with 3.5 seconds remaining. Dillon Mitchell successfully scored a putback layup, but the clock had already run out on the game.
In the postgame press conference, Rick Pitino instead blamed the Red Storm’s weak rebounding in the closing minutes for the loss, not the late-game shot selection.
After an offseason of monumental hype, St. John’s has started on the wrong foot against top competition, going 0-2 against ranked opponents. The Red Storm have a chance to salvage a good win from their Vegas trip when they look for revenge for their heartbreaking loss a year ago in The Bahamas against the Baylor Bears (4-0) on Tuesday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Eastern time (1:30 p.m. Pacific), and the game will be broadcast on truTV and HBO Max.
