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St. John’s tops Minnesota to advance

Alan Draper profile picture
Sports Editor
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NEW YORK — The St. John’s Red Storm are off to their best start in six years after Wednesday’s 70-61 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden.

The Red Storm (4-0), who received 19 points from guard D’Angelo Harrison and 18 points from guard Rysheed Jordan, will face the winner of Gonzaga and Georgia in Friday’s final.

Minnesota (3-1) was led by freshman guard Nate Mason’s 15 points.

The Red Storm closed out the game on a 15-2 run after trailing by nine points at the half.

Harrison’s four-point play put the Red Storm ahead 65-59 with 2:23 to play. He was fouled by center Elliott Eliason while sinking a 3-pointer from the left baseline. Harrison kept the play alive by diving for loose ball that was headed out-of-bounds, then put himself in position for the 3-pointer.

He played 40 minutes, contributing nine rebounds and six steals.

“He (Harrison) is so lethal,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino. “He can make shots from anywhere. He made a big shot when you think he would have been tired. He gritted it out.”

Eliason admitted the four-point play turned the game in favor of St. John’s.

“It was a huge mistake and frankly I’m embarrassed about it,” he said. “It was a huge turn.”

Jordan’s free throw tied it at 59 with 3:49 left, then on St. John’s next possession, Harrison’s two free throws gave St. John’s a 61-59 lead with 3:33 to go.

Harrison was just 2-for-10 from the floor, but received encouragement from his teammates. He ended up 5-of-17.

“My teammates did a good job of staying with me,” Harrison said. “They said, ‘You’re a shooter, shoot it.”

St. John’s had a chance to take its first lead of the second half, but Harrison missed both free throws with 4:37 to play and the Golden Gophers clinging to a 59-58 edge.

A 7-2 St. John’s run brought the Red Storm to within two at 51-49 at the 12:35 mark of the second half.

Minnesota sank six of its 11 3-point attempts in the first half and led 40-31 at the break. The Red Storm failed to connect on any of its nine first-half 3-point tries.

Minnesota guard Carlos Morris gave the Golden Gophers a 20-18 lead on a 3-pointer, then proceeded to score five of his team’s next 16 points as Minnesota grabbed a 36-27 lead with three minutes left in the half. The Red Storm scored only nine points in the sequence.

NOTES: St. John’s scored 24 points off of 20 Minnesota turnovers. … Minnesota was without reserve G Daquein McNeil. The sophomore was arrested Monday on two counts of domestic assault. McNeil was suspended indefinitely by the school. He has a court appearance on Monday in Minnesota. McNeil allegedly hit his girlfriend with a belt. McNeil was a role player for the Golden Gophers, playing close to 19 minutes a game and averaging 3.2 points and 3.3 rebounds this season. “This is obviously bigger than basketball,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino. “It’s certainly a difficult situation, we understand that.”… Minnesota won its first three games by an average margin of 30.7 points. … The teams met for the third time. The Golden Gophers won in 1994 and 1996, but both results were later vacated by the NCAA. … Minnesota made its seventh appearance at Madison Square Garden. … Junior C Chris Obekpa is St. John’s career leader in blocked shots.

Alan is an expert gambling writer who works as one of the chief editors for Basketball Insiders. He has been covering online gambling and sports betting for over 8 years, having written for the likes of Sportlens, Compare.bet, The Sports Daily, 90min, and TopRatedCasinos.co.uk. His particular specialisms include US online casinos and gambling regulations, and soccer and basketball betting. Based in London, Alan holds an MA in English Literature and is a passionate supporter of Chelsea FC.

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