While everyone around him was celebrating, the Garden crowd of 11,455 on its feet, AJ Storr was stoic.
The freshman had no reaction — like he expected the ball to drop through the hoop.
“It’s not my first game-winning shot,” he said matter-of-factly after his 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left sent St. John’s to a face-saving 75-73 victory over Big East doormat Georgetown at the Garden on Sunday afternoon. “It’s on the college level, but it’s the same. The shot went in.”
The shot capped a disjointed — but desperately needed — win that saw the Johnnies build a 10-point lead in the first half, blow it at the end of the period, then rally from a nine-point deficit in the final 8:22. Still, after Bryson Mozone’s 3-pointer with 24 seconds left, they were down again. Storr made sure it didn’t stay that way, drilling a left-wing 3 on a nice feed from Andre Curbelo as St. John’s avoided the disaster that losing to Georgetown (6-16, 1-10) at home would’ve been. Mozone did have a chance to win it, but his 3-pointer rimmed out at the horn.
Just five days ago, the Hoyas snapped a Big East-record 29-game league losing streak, and they outplayed St. John’s (14-8, 4-7) for large portions of this game. But, without Posh Alexander and Rafael Pinzon due to ankle injuries, the Johnnies willed themselves to a much-needed victory after getting blitzed for 104 points by Creighton on Wednesday. They cut down on their turnovers and protected their defensive glass better after halftime, giving themselves a shot.
David Jones produced his best game in weeks, scoring 17 points and adding seven rebounds. Despite an off shooting night, Joel Soriano still registered his 18th double-double of 12 points and 15 rebounds. And then there was Storr, the four-star recruit who has come on of late. He not only scored 12 points, but also had seven rebounds, five assists and four steals. He can do more than score.
“He likes to score, but at this level, you have to be able to stop people as well,” coach Mike Anderson said. “That’s what changed for him. He has stuff you can’t teach, and you’re starting to see it on display out on the floor.”
Storr was seeing limited playing time for most of the season, but he didn’t get down about it. He kept working, and has now started six straight games, reaching double figures in scoring four times.
“I knew that things were going to eventually go well,” Storr said. “I just stayed positive and stayed in the gym.”
The feel-good victory, however, won’t do much to change the nature of this season unless a long winning streak follows. St. John’s nearly lost at home to the worst team in the league. It still has a 2-7 record in Quad 1 and 2 games, and is in eighth-place in the Big East, needing a strong finish just to reach the NIT.
But Sunday afternoon, St. John’s at least had reason to smile in what has otherwise been another disappointing season. The fact that Storr, who the program hopes is a building block for the future, made the game-winning shot added to the positive vibes.
“It’s going to take those kinds of moments from different guys to put us into the position we want to be, to become the team we want to be,” Anderson said.
St. John’s hosted two of the area’s top recruits in Archbishop Stepinac duo Boogie Fland and Danny Carbuccia.
