When St. John’s needed big buckets Saturday against Harvard, RJ Luis Jr. and Kadary Richmond found a way to propel the Red Storm to victory.
The 77-64 victory was closer than many would have predicted, and the Crimson managed to get as close as eight on three occasions in the second half.
The Johnnies were coming off a tough trip to the Bahamas, where they lost winnable games to Baylor and Georgia.
It was Luis who made a big layup with 7:19 remaining Saturday to give St. John a double-digit lead again. He followed it up with a second-chance three-pointer less than a minute later. The guard scored 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting and had a game-high 10 rebounds.
Richmond’s layup in the paint with just over three minutes left helped St. John’s respond after Harvard’s Evan Nelson scored another eight points. Richmond finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in over 30 minutes.
A dunk by Luis with just over three minutes remaining once again put the Red Storm’s lead back in double digits. St. John’s closed out the final in 3:43 with a score of 10-7 to preserve the victory.
“Not necessarily,” Luis replied when asked if there was a certain mindset heading into the match. “I feel like basketball is a running game, so they ran. We had to make sure we had enough saves to ultimately win the game. [Richmond and I] are two leaders on the field. He’s a great leader, so he took advantage of what he saw. I played with what I got from the offense, so that’s it.
Head coach Rick Pitino used 10 players in the game, but never turned to Deivon Smith. The St. John’s guard has been in the doghouse since reacting poorly to his benching in the loss to Georgia.
Instead of suspending Smith, Pitino asked his players to determine a punishment. The coach confirmed they decided to bench Smith on Saturday and said it would be their decision when Smith returns to the lineup.
“It’s very possible. It depends on the team,” Pitino said when asked if Smith would not play the next game against Kansas State, which visits the Johnnies on Dec. 7.
St. John’s never trailed Harvard and shot 44.3 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from 3-point range.
Jaiden Glover came off the bench to score 11 points in about 19 minutes. Glover has played an average of five minutes in five previous appearances this season.
“I think it was great for Jaiden tonight,” Pitino said. “This type of experience is invaluable and can only help our basketball team. I have a lot of confidence in Jaiden.
The Johnnies rolled from the opening kickoff, taking a 9-0 lead, starting with a Richmond layup. Luis scored four points down the stretch and Simeon Wilcher capped it with a corner 3 just over three minutes into the game.
The Crimson didn’t score their first basket until 3:31 into the first half, but stifled the Red Storm’s run with six straight points to get within three. Luis responded with a layup that kicked off St. John’s on a 13-2 run to give them a lead of 16, their largest lead of the half.
Richmond extended St. John’s lead to 18 early in the second half, but the Crimson chipped away until it was down to eight with 8:04 left, when Chandler Pigge made a free throw .
“Teams like Harvard, Princeton and Columbia are giving us a bit of a problem right now,” Pitino said. “They’re five outs and they’re giving us problems defensively because we’re a help team. We’re stocking up on help and they can cause you problems.
He added: “We just didn’t get much out of our four and five today. A lot of it is because of the spread, but we’ll take it. It’s a great victory for us after a long journey.
