Dec. 17, 2005
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NEW YORK, N.Y.-Junior guard Will Whittington (Kingwood, Tx.) scored a game-high 20 points on 4-for-8 shooting from 3-point range as the Marist men's basketball squad defeated St. John's 56-53 Saturday afternoon in Madison Square Garden. Marist improved to 3-4 overall, while the Red Storm dropped to 5-3. The victory was Marist's first win in school history over a BIG EAST team in 15 tries. Last season, Whittington lit up the Red Storm for a career-high 31 points, including seven 3-pointers in an eight-point defeat in Jamaica, N.Y.
Saturday's 56-point total was the fewest points in a Marist win since Jan. 17, 2000 when the Red Foxes knocked off Canisius 56-51.
Both teams started out ice cold in the first half, but the Red Storm finally found its mark when it surged out to a 13-point lead at the 3:05 mark on a Daryll Hill jumper to put St. John's up 26-13. However, the Red Foxes answered that run with an 11-0 run to close the half on a pair of 3-pointers by Whittington to make the halftime score 26-24 St. John's.
The Red Foxes took their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Whittington at the 15:49 mark. St. John's took its final lead of the game (35-33) at the 13:22 mark on a pair of free throws by Anthony Mason, Jr., but could just tie the score the rest of the way. The game-clinching score came courtesy of Marist senior guard Carl Hood. The shifty, Houston, Tx. native nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing to put Marist up 54-50 with 59.6 seconds remaining.
After two more Whittington free throws, the Red Storm tried valiantly to force overtime, but misfired on a pair of 3-point tries by Hill and Mason, Jr. in the final seconds to fall short.
Redshirt sophomore Ryan Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio) also dented double figures with 10 points, while junior Jared Jordan (Hartford, Conn.) posted nine points, 11 assists and six rebounds in a full 40 minutes of action. Through seven games this season, Jordan has missed eight out of a possible 280 minutes.
Hood also shared the rebounding lead with six boards.
St. John's had four players in double figures, led by Hill and Mason Jr.'s 13 points to go with 11 each from Euguene Lawrence and Lamont Hamilton. Hamilton also had a game-high 13 rebounds, while Lawrence had five assists.
Marist held the edge in shooting, making 38.0 percent (19-for-50), while St. John's shot just 33.3 percent (19-for-57). The Red Foxes also swept the 3-point shooting and free throw shooting categories making 40 percent (8-for-20) of their long-range attempts to the Red Storm's 26.9 percent (7-for-26). Marist finished the game 10-for-14 (71.4 percent) from the line, while the Red Storm went just 50 percent (8-for-16).
Marist will turn its attention to a Wednesday matchup with St. Bonaventure at 7:30 p.m. in the McCann Center. The Red Foxes knocked off the Bonnies 74-58 on the road last season.
