St. John’s 62
Va. Tech59
BLACKSBURG, Va. – The fans in the Virginia Tech student section at Cassell Coliseum did their homework and yesterday they went to work on Marcus Hatten. They heckled the St. John’s All-America candidate during pregame warmups.
“Hey, Hatten, you’re going to have the same NBA career as Omar Cook,” they screamed.
Then Hatten showed why he’s likely to have a much better pro career than Cook, the former Red Storm point guard whose career has tanked, or Erick Barkley, who went from St. John’s stardom to languishing on the bench in Portland.
Hatten is the nation’s seventh-leading scorer, but he also is 18th in steals. Even when his offense fails him, Hatten can still make an impact. His defensive play sparked his teammates to clamp down on the Hokies – and that’s what happened in a 62-59 St. John’s win.
The 59 points is the fewest the Red Storm have allowed in 10 games. They blocked eight shots, the most since a win over Fairfield in the second game of the season, and made eight steals.
“Today we just wanted it more,” said forward Eric King, who had his best game at St. John’s with 10 rebounds, nine points and four blocks. “I thought we played better defense against UCLA but today we just wanted it more.”
The Red Storm (10-5, 3-2 Big East) couldn’t afford to lose this game, not with UConn coming to town tomorrow night. When Hatten made a steal and went in for an emphatic dunk, it looked as if the Red Storm, leading 24-8, would coast.
But Tech (8-9, 1-3) fresh off an emotional win Tuesday over Virginia, picked up its defensive pace. The Hokies used a 14-4 burst to get within 28-22 before King made a sensational grab of an offensive rebound and put it back for a 30-22 Red Storm lead at the half.
Tech kept coming after the intermission. After Hatten scored on great pass from Kyle Cuffe, to open the second half, the Hokies ran off 10 straight to tie the score 32-32. It was a dogfight the rest of the way.
“A very scary game,” said St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis. “Probably the worst possible time we could have picked to play here. But somehow the guys found a way to win on the road.”
They found a way by playing the kind of tough, gritty defense fans haven’t seen from the Red Storm in three seasons. Grady Reynolds came off the bench to post his second straight strong game with 10 boards and nine points. Willie Shaw helped keep Tech’s Bryant Matthews (20 points) under control.
Hatten was coming off a sensational game against Georgetown in which he rallied the team from a 16-point, second-half deficit for a 77-72 win last Saturday. He tied his career high of 34 by hitting 14-of-25 shots.
Yesterday, he was held to a season-low nine points on 3-of-15 shooting. But Hatten had five boards, five assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
“I guess I learned that from my father,” said Hatten. “He always told me, ‘If your shot’s not dropping you have to do other things.’ “