When St. John's needed a big bucket against Harvard on Saturday, RJ Lewis Jr. and Kadary Richmond found a way to lead the Red Storm to victory.
The 77-64 victory was closer than most expected, with the Crimson managing to pull within eight points three times in the second half.
The Johnnies are coming off a tough trip to the Bahamas, dropping winnable games against Baylor and Georgia.
It was Lewis who restored St. John's double-digit lead with a big layup with 7:19 left Saturday. He made a second-chance 3-pointer less than a minute later. The guard scored 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
Richmond made a driving layup in the paint with just over three minutes left, and Harvard's Evan Nelson helped St. John's rally back to eight points. Richmond had 18 points and eight rebounds in over 30 minutes.
Lewis made a dunk with just over three minutes left, bringing the Red Storm's lead back to double digits. St. John's closed out the final 3:43 with a 10-7 run to hold on for the win.
Asked if he had any kind of mindset as the game approached, Lewis said: “Not necessarily.” “They made runs because I think basketball is a game of runs, and we had to get enough stops to ultimately win the game. [Richmond and I] These are the two leaders on the court. He's a great point guard, so he took advantage of what he saw. We played as hard as we could with what we got from our offense, so that's it. ”
Head coach Rick Pitino used 10 players in the game but did not rely on Davon Smith. The St. John's guard has been in the doghouse since his poor reaction to the bench in the loss to Georgia.
Instead of suspending Smith, Coach Pitino asked his players to decide on the punishment. The coach confirmed his decision to bench Smith on Saturday and said he would make that decision when Smith returns to the lineup.
“That's very likely. It depends on the team,” Pitino said when asked if Smith might miss the next game against Kansas State, which visits the Johnnies on Dec. 7. replied:
St. John's didn't lag behind Harvard, shooting 44.3 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from 3-point range.
Jaden Glover came off the bench and scored 11 points in about 19 minutes. Glover has averaged five minutes in five games so far this season.
“I think tonight was a great read for Jaden,” Pitino said. “Experience like that is invaluable and can help our basketball team. I have a lot of confidence in Jayden.”
The Johnnies quickly came back from the opening tip-off and took a 9-0 lead starting with a layup by Richmond. Lewis scored four points in the game, and Simeon Wilcher capped the scoring with a corner 3 just over three minutes into the game.
The Crimson didn't make their first basket until 3:31 of the first half, but they scored six straight points to stop the Red Storm from scoring and close the gap to three points. Lewis answered with a layup and St. John's started on a 13-2 run to lead by 16 points, its largest lead of the first half.
Richmond extended its lead over St. John's to 18 points early in the second half, but the Crimson's gradually closed the gap and got down to eight points on Chandler Pidge's free throw with 8:04 left.
“Teams like Harvard, Princeton and Columbia are giving us a little bit of trouble right now,” Pitino said. “They're five out and they're going to give us problems defensively because we're a help team. We need a lot of help and they can give you problems.”
He further added: It's mostly because of the spread, but we accept it. It's a good win for us after a long journey.”
