National Basketball Association
St. John's 70, Minnesota 61
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Officials:
# John Gaffney, # Doug Shows, # Lamar Simpson
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
St. John's 70, Minnesota 61: D'Angelo Harrison's four-point play with 2:27 left highlighted a 19-point performance as the Red Storm defeated the Golden Gophers in the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
Rysheed Jordan contributed 18 points and seven rebounds while Harrison added nine rebounds and six steals for St. John's (4-0), which will play No. 8 Gonzaga in Friday's tournament title game. The Red Storm overcame a nine-point halftime deficit despite 17 turnovers and 2-of-13 shooting from 3-point range.
Freshman Nate Mason scored 15 points to pace the Gophers (3-2), who came in averaging 20.3 assists - ninth in the country - but finished with only nine on 23 field goals. Carlos Morris had 11 points while Joey King notched eight points, nine rebounds and two blocks for Minnesota, which plays Georgia in Friday's consolation game.
The key play in the final minutes came when Harrison dove to keep an offensive rebound alive and fell into the photographers before running to the corner and hitting a 3-pointer while getting fouled. The ensuing free throw made it 65-59 and St. John's added a couple more foul shots before Andre Hollins' jumper with 1:14 left ended a five-plus minute scoring drought for Minnesota.
Minnesota led 40-31 after a first half where 3-point shooting was the major story. The Gophers were 6-of-11 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes, while the Red Storm was 0-of-9, although those numbers evened out as Minnesota missed all eight of its long-range attempts in the second half.
GAME NOTEBOOK: St. John's G Sir'Dominic Pointer, who averaged 3.2 rebounds last season, grabbed 11 to raise his 2014-15 average to 8.5 per game. ... The Gophers committed 20 turnovers, including seven from Hollins. Jordan had six turnovers for the Red Storm. ... St. John's F Chris Obekpa had 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, giving him 17 in four games this year.
Top Game Performances
| St. John's |
|
Minnesota |
|
D'Angelo Harrison 19 |
Scoring |
Nate Mason 15 |
|
Rysheed Jordan 3 |
Assists |
Andre Hollins 3 |
|
Sir'Dominic Pointer 11 |
Rebounds |
Joey King 9 |
|
Rysheed Jordan 8 |
Free Throws Made |
Nate Mason 5 |
|
D'Angelo Harrison 6 |
Steals |
Nate Mason 2 |
|
Chris Obekpa 3 |
Blocks |
Elliott Eliason 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| St. John's
|
70 |
39.7 |
2-13 |
22-37 |
9 |
47 |
6 |
16 |
18 |
| Minnesota
|
61 |
35.9 |
6-19 |
9-16 |
12 |
36 |
7 |
7 |
20 |
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