Gamecenter: Columbia 70, St. John’s 76

	1st	2nd	Final
Columbia (7-4)	29	41	70
St. John’s (8-3)	29	47	76


Carnesecca Arena – Queens, NY	Boxscore

Keys to the Game
Key sequence	Columbia led 24-16 with under eight minutes to go in the first half, but St. John’s outscored the Lions 13-5 to end the half, as the teams went into the locker room tied at 29. The Red Storm then opened the second half with a 13-2 run, with all the buckets except the final jumper of the spurt coming from point blank range. The 26-7 run bridging halftime turned around the game entirely, as Columbia trailed by double digits for most of the second half after leading nearly all the way in the first half.
Key sign it was over	Joe Jones’s strategy of fouling nearly paid off big for the Lions. His team sent St. John’s to the line 30 times in the final 7:01, and the Red Storm hit just 18 of those 30 attempts. Meanwhile, four Columbia three-pointers in a 92-second stretch late in the game trimmed a 13-point St. John’s lead to just six with 55 ticks left. After the two teams traded two free throws, Patrick Foley brought the Lions to within four with a jumper at the :32 mark. Anthony Mason, Jr. blew a dunk at the other end, and the Lions had a chance to make it a one-possession game with 22 seconds on the clock. However, Columbia had trouble finding an open look, and finally with only seven seconds remaining, Mason atoned for his mistake by blocking a K.J. Matsui three-pointer. Eugene Lawrence was fouled and hit both free throws for the final margin.
Key performance	Columbia had no answer for Lamont Hamilton inside. The St. John’s forward finished with an incredible 36 points on 11-of-13 shooting, also going 14 of 16 at the line. John Baumann fouled out and Ben Nwachukwu was limited to just eight minutes due to foul trouble, as he and reserve center Jason Miller each finished the game with four fouls. Hamilton scored his team’s first 10 points, and 18 of its first 22, finishing the first half with an even 20 points.
Key statistic	St. John’s won the turnover battle 17-10, committing a combined total of just three in the final 10 minutes of both halves. The Red Storm owned a big 25-12 edge in points off turnovers.

Notes

– Baumann was the only Lion starter in double double figures with a team-high 13 points, though Matsui, Foley, and Justin Armstrong all scored 10 or more off the bench for Joe Jones.

– Columbia owned the three-point arc, shooting 10 of 23 (43.5 percent), while St. John’s was woeful from long range, connecting on just 3 of 19 (15.8 percent).

– However, the Red Storm controlled the interior, outscoring the Lions 28-14 in the paint and shooting 18 of 27 (66.7 percent) inside the arc on the evening.

– In large part due to the late fouling, St. John’s had a massive edge in free throw attempts — 46 to 21 — and outscored Columbia 31-14 at the line.

– The Red Storm was without senior guard Daryll Hill (7.3 points, 3.8 assists per game), who sat out with a left quadriceps contusion.

– The win was St. John’s 11th straight against Columbia, with the last Lion victory over their city rival coming back in 1978 at Levien Gym.

– Columbia next will head over to Brooklyn to take on struggling St. Francis (1-12) on December 30 at 7:00 pm ET.

Basketball U.

Gamecenter: Columbia 70, St. John’s 76

Jake Wilson

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Basketball U.

Basketball U.

Jake Wilson

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Basketball U.