Early in the spring, St. John’s began to forget about the disappointing season that had just passed. There was reason for optimism after the Red Storm scored big on the transfer market.
And those two players — Andre Curbelo, who came from Illinois and David Jones, who transferred from DePaul — continued to show Tuesday night why they were worthy of the hype.
Both Curbelo and Jones came up big, leading St. John’s past Syracuse, 76-69 in overtime, and to an Empire Classic title at Barclays Center.
“They’re not scared of big moments,” coach Mike Anderson said. “The beauty of it, they’re both like that. You don’t mind being the hero or the goat. … We’re seeing what they bring to this basketball team, it’s helping complete this team.”
Jones sank a pair of huge jumpers in overtime to give the Johnnies the lead and Curbelo put it away by hitting a layup and setting up a Jones 3-pointer. St. John’s improved to 6-0 for the first time since 2018-19, rallying from a significant first-half deficit for the third straight game, and beat its old Big East rival for the fourth consecutive time.
At the final horn, a euphoric Joel Soriano yelled to the St. John’s fans in the crowd: “This is our city.”
Curbelo, the tournament MVP, scored a career-high 23 points along with six assists and four steals, keeping St. John’s in the game when Syracuse seemed poised to pull away. Jones notched 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Soriano continued his torrid start, with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
“He does things you can’t really teach,” Curbelo said of Jones. “He can get a bucket whenever.”
Montez Mathis and Dyan Addae-Wusu combined to limit Syracuse star guard Joe Girard III to four points on 1-for-10 shooting, and St. John’s held the Orange to 3-of-16 shooting from 3-point range. After freshman Judah Mintz scored 16 first-half points for the Orange (3-2), Anderson moved Posh Alexander (seven points, five assists) onto him, and Mintz managed just four points the rest of the way.
Alexander helped St. John’s leave with a trophy, and received an unwanted gift: What appeared to be a broken nose after getting elbowed in the face.
St. John’s put together a furious 16-2 second-half run in which it held Syracuse without a point for a stretch of 4:20 and went up by four on two Mathis free throws with 8:17 remaining. On multiple occasions, St. John’s missed easy shots around the rim that would’ve created a bigger cushion, and Syracuse evened it up at 65 with 1:33 to go on Jesse Edwards’ layup. Neither team could score the rest of regulation, trading a shot-clock violation and poor possessions in the final seconds to force overtime.
In that extra session, Jones and Curbelo led the way, as St. John’s found a way to pull out a close game for the second time in as many nights. Over the final 6:38 of play, Syracuse managed just four points.
Last season, the Red Storm went 4-9 in games decided by six points or less. This group, at least so far, is different.
“This team has good potential,” Anderson said. “They’re gritty. I love grittiness. … We got more guys making plays — winning plays — when it’s crunch time.”
