Somehow, Wagner had a chance to penetrate deep in the second half.
The Carnesecca Arena was silent, stunned that the newly ranked Johnny could be toying with such a heartbreaking defeat.
No. 22 St. John's looked sloppy all night, isolated on offense and unable to put together quality possessions.
It was a two-point game, and Wagner had the ball.
Jacare Sanchez had the ball on the right block, and it immediately looked like NEC School would be on the offensive.
However, Cadderly Richmond, who had been silent for most of the evening, finally made a play. Big play.
Richmond didn't just block shots.
He swallowed it and kept ownership.
Seconds later, Davon Smith made an open 3-pointer in transition.
The crowd exhaled. St. John's (3-0) wasn't going to play with food anymore.
They scored 18 consecutive points in 5 minutes and 06 seconds and won 66-45.
Suddenly, the 3-point shots started falling, and four of them came from four different players: Aaron Scott, Smith, Brady Dunlap, and Zubby Ejiofor.
Still, I was nervous for the first 30 minutes. St. John's lost to a much smaller team.
It worked. He missed 11 free throws and committed 14 turnovers. It was completely out of sync.
They had a scoring chance with 6 minutes and 29 seconds left in the second half.
In the end, I woke up in time.
St. John's was led by RJ Lewis with 13 points, Scott had 11 points and Simeon Wilcher added nine points.
Richmond had seven assists, followed by Smith with nine points and eight rebounds.
