PISCATAWAY, N.J. ' The Rutgers men's basketball team's late surge fell short as the Scarlet Knights (10-14, 2-9) dropped a 52-45 decision to St. John's (9-12, 3-7) Wednesday evening at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Freshman Mike Coburn (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) posted 11 points in 38 minutes to pace the home squad in the scoring column.
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Mike Coburn led the Scarlet Knights with 11 points. (Jim O'Connor/NJ Sport Pics) |
After being down by 18 points, RU began to chip away. The Scarlet Knights went on a 17-4 run to cut the Red Storm lead to 43-38 on a foul shot with 2:56 left. St. John's responded with five unanswered points to put the game out of reach.
Both teams struggled from the field throughout the game. The Scarlet Knights shot just 28.8 percent (15-52) against an effective St. John's defense, while RU held the Red Storm to a 36.2 percent (17-47) mark from the field.
Freshman Corey Chandler (Newark, N.J.) scored nine points, including six in the second half. The guard also finished with four rebounds and three steals. Sophomore center Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal) led the team in rebounds with eight and scored five points to go along with two blocks.
RU out-rebounded St. John's 36-to-35 and outscored the Red Storm in the paint 22-to-18. The Scarlet Knight bench scored 19 points and was effective in helping give an offensive boost in the Scarlet Knights late-game rally that fell short.
Rutgers resumes play on Saturday in a 6 p.m. game against Cincinnati at the RAC. The contest will be televised live on ESPN Classic.
POSTGAME NOTES
Rutgers outrebounded St. John's 36-35, marking the 13th time this season it has outrebounded its opponent. The Scarlet Knights are 8-5 when they outrebound their opponent.
Senior Byron Joynes (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed six rebounds, giving him 511 for his career. He passes Herve Lamizana (509) for 33rd place on Rutgers' all-time career rebounds list.
Joynes blocked one shot, the 66th block of his career, giving him sole possession of 16th place on Rutgers' all-time career blocks list.
Joynes converted two three-point plays, giving him three on the season. Joynes also drew one charge, giving him 17 on the season. He leads the team in charges drawn.
Junior JR Inman (Pomona, N.Y.) grabbed seven rebounds, including the 500th of his career. He now has 505 career rebounds and stands in 34th place on Rutgers' all-time career rebounds list.
Sophomore Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal) blocked two shots, giving him 73 for the season and tying him with Roy Hinson (1980-81) and Steve Perry (1984-85) for the seventh best single season blocked shot total in RU history. Ndiaye has 122 career blocks, good for sixth place on Rutgers' all-time career blocks list.
Ndiaye grabbed eight rebounds, marking the eighth time this season he has led the team in rebounding, and the 11th time of his career.
Freshman Mike Coburn (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) scored in double digits for the eighth time this season, and led the team in scoring for the third time this season. Coburn has scored in double digits in four of the past five games.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH FRED HILL:
On St. John's defense:
"You've got to give St. John's credit. What they did is they packed in their man-to-man, which took away driving angles and easy baskets. They forced you into taking jump shots. I think we did a great job in forcing the issue, trying to get to the foul line. But in the first half we took 11 threes, and they threw a little zone in, but it was mostly man-to-man. Then we threw the ball inside and we couldn't score around the basket. "Yes, you're going to look out of sync when shots don't go in, and you can't run motion because they're just packing [the defense in], and they're daring you to make shots. And certainly we didn't make shots."
On the performance of the RU bench:
"We needed energy and I feel the people that were on the floor gave us the most energy. They were defending the hardest, and offensively they were doing what we asked them to do.
"With them in there it's a bit of a quicker team. We wanted to go with a quicker, smaller line-ups and get in gaps. We were down 18 and cut it to five with that line-up. They were the one's that got us back in the game, and I was going to let them have a chance to win the game for us."
On the 17-4 second half run:
"I thought the difference was we were very aggressive going to the rim, and getting to the free-throw line, and we knocked down a couple of shots.
That's what jump starts you when you get good looks and you finally knock one down.
"Certainly the defense keyed those offensive runs late in the game, but we were able to make a few shots and get to the free-throw line by being aggressive off the dribble with a small quick line-up."
On the past two losses:
"Every match-up and every team is different. To simplify it, you have to make shots. We didn't score, but we gave up 24 points in the first half.
They shot 28 percent. I mean I can't ask more than that, you have to make some shots. Those are things that you have to do when you're struggling offensively."
ST. JOHN'S HEAD COACH NORM ROBERTS
Opening Statement:
"I thought we played very, very tough tonight. We did a great job defensively in taking them out of their rhythm and what they wanted to do and we rebounded the ball well. In the second half we got stifled when they went to a gimmick defense in the last seven minutes of the game. We had some shots, but we didn't make them and we got a little tentative in what we did. But then Justin (Burrell) made a shot and Eugene (Lawrence) made some free-throws. Then we played some better defense and got some baskets. It's always good to win on the road. The RAC is a very, very tough place to play and we're playing young guys out there. They all did a great job."
On Why The Team Has Won Back-To-Back Games:
"They've practiced really hard the last few weeks and bonded. We just have to continue to do those things. What I told them is understand why we're winning. We're winning because we practice better, because we're executing better and we're making plays when we have the opportunity. There's no big difference, there's no magic wand, that's why you win and that's what we're doing."
On His Team's Young Talent:
"We have good young players who are capable of going out and doing good things for us. Tonight was Eugene's night, Larry (Wright) and Justin also gave us good minutes. The game before it was D.J. Kennedy doing it, we just have good young guys that are going to get better. They just have to take their lumps and we have taken some lumps and we'll probably continue to take some lumps. That just means that we have to fight through and continue to get better and better.
Have You Changed Practice Strategy To Make The Team Tougher?
"There's been some change in paying more attention to detail on things. It's not me, it's them. They have better attitudes, they're more focused, they're getting after it and that's why we've gotten better."
