St. John’s will soon release its first travel guide, “How to Ruin a Week in Paradise,” just in time for spring break.
It’s a primer for teams playing in any of the desirable Christmas tournaments in Hawaii. After losing 2 of 3 in paradise, the Red Storm players were asked what they remembered most about their trip to the land of sunshine, surfing and macadamia nuts.
“The game isn’t over until there are all zeroes on the clock,” freshmen forward Justin Burrell said. “That was a tough lesson to learn.”
The Red Storm’s week in Hawaii began with an ulcer-forming 71-69 loss to Ohio in their opener in the Rainbow Classic. St. John’s tied the score on a Eugene Lawrence 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining. But the Red Storm failed to get back on defense, and Bubba Walther threw a perfect length-of-the-court pass that Leon Williams caught and laid in at the buzzer.
Has anyone seen the sunburn lotion?
“We talk to our guys about understanding the game, understanding the situation,” St. John’s coach Norm Roberts said. “We go over those situations. And if you look at that play, that’s a Tom Brady to Randy Moss play. But we’ve got to be ready for it.
“If you look at the guys who made that play for Ohio, they’re both seniors. Seniors make those kinds of plays. But that’s why we played in this tournament, to help us grow as a team and get ready for the Big East conference.”
The Johnnies (5-4) have one last chance to get ready for league play when they take the Garden court for the first time this season, facing Marist (6-5) in the Aeropostale Holiday Festival tonight. Hofstra (2-5) faces Virginia Tech (6-5) in the first game.
The winners advance to tomorrow’s 3 p.m. championship game with the losers meeting in a 1 p.m. consolation game. Hofstra is the defending champ.
“It’s our home tournament,” Burrell said. “It would be great to get a win in our first game in the Garden.”
St. John’s only can hope its Garden experience is better than the one in the Pacific. Though the Red Storm bounced back from the Ohio loss to beat Hawaii, the flight home turned into a long one when St. John’s blew a 38-32 halftime lead against Tulane and lost 79-71.
If Hawaii Five-O still was being televised, Jack Lord would have taken one look at the Red Storm’s performance and stated, “Book ’em, Dano.”
“What happened to us in Hawaii was a pretty good example of what can happen to a young team,” said Roberts, who has eight freshmen. “Hopefully, we learn from that experience.”
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It will be an emotional moment in the Garden at halftime of the St. John’s-Marist game when Aeropostale presents checks of $2,500 to seniors Roland Rivera of Mount St. Michael Academy and Joseph Ringer of Cardinal Hayes. They are this year’s recipients of the Alonzo Milligan Mentorship Award, established in 2005 in memory of former Cardinal Hayes player Alonzo Milligan.
Milligan, a member of the Boys Club of New York where he also served as a mentor, was the victim of a random shooting. He was 19. A fund was established in his name to help high school students pay for college. Milligan’s brother, Dante, plays at UMass.