University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
St Johns
Pittsburgh No Contest For Red Storm
1/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2000
By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - St. John's might not have another half this season like its first one against Pittsburgh on Monday night.
Erick Barkley of the Red Storm had two more points than the Panthers managed in the opening 20 minutes. Pittsburgh had more turnovers than points and St. John's shot 55 percent to the Panthers' 25 percent.
It was 45-14 at halftime and St. John's went on to an 82-58 victory in the Big East opener for both teams.
"That was a good way to start the league no doubt about that," St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said. "That was a great first half. Hopefully there will be more like that down the road. It was really good because we didn't try and do anything that wasn't there. We used our best asset - quick hands."
The Panthers (8-4) had more turnovers (17) than points in the first half. At one stretch Pittsburgh turned the ball over on seven consecutive possessions and nine of 10 as it fell behind 26-4 over the opening 11 1/2 minutes.
The turnovers were committed by six players and came in a variety of ways. Most were forced by St. John's backcourt trap, whether the ball was stolen outright or thrown away on a long pass, but there were also some walks, offensive fouls and bad entry passes.
"That start was just a carry over from our practices where we've been working on the fullcourt defense," said Barkley, who finished with 25 points, two off his season high in a win over Virginia. "Any time you get in front of a team you want to keep them behind."
First-year Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland used the term "snowballed."
"One mistake led to another and instead of slowing ourselves down we hurried," he said. "We couldn't handle the pressure we faced at the start."
St. John's closed the first half with an 8-0 run to take the 31-point lead a the Panthers shot 6-for-24.
"What made what we did even more special is that we didn't extend anything. In fact, we gambled less when we were at our best," Jarvis said. "Three, four, five stops in a row with three, four, five baskets in a row is when you get the snowball effect."
St. John's biggest lead was 58-20 on a dunk off a turnover by Chudney Gray with 14:40 to play. The closest the Panthers got was 80-58 on two free throws by Ricardo Greer with 33 seconds left.
The victory was the 22nd straight in Alumni Hall for the Red Storm (9-2) and was their eighth straight over Pittsburgh, a streak that dates to the 1995 Big East tournament. The last three wins in that run have been by an average of 24.3 points.
The Red Storm have six players averaging in double figures and five reached that against Pittsburgh as Lavor Postell had 14, Chudney Gray 13, Bootsy Thornton 12 and Reggie Jessie 10. Thornton also had eight rebounds, seven assists and six steals.
They shot 54 percent for the game (37-for-69), including 3-for-11 from 3-point range where Barkley finished 3-for-4.
"They really are a very unselfish team," Jarvis said. "Coaches want that but it's up to the players to do it in the ballgame."
Greer had 20 points to lead the Panthers, who finished with 25 turnovers and shot 50 percent (24-for-48).
"We really had three freshmen starters out there and this was their first start in a Big East road game," Howland said. "And it doesn't get any easier. Our next game is against (No. 2) Connecticut."
