It was Christmas in late May for St. John’s and its win-starved fan base. Under the tree has been a pair of potent southpaw scorers who have Johnnies fans dreaming of a breakthrough season.
In the span of 48 hours, Big East leading scorer Shamorie Ponds took his name out of the NBA draft and return to school for his junior year. And on Thursday night, Chris Mullin’s program scored a verbal commitment from Auburn transfer Mustapha Heron, the skilled wing told The Post. He has enrolled for the summer session and will begin taking classes Monday.
The 6-foot-5 Heron was SEC co-champion Auburn’s leading scorer, a versatile and physical wing capable of scoring from the perimeter and in the paint. Like Ponds, he flirted with going pro, before opting to stay in school.
However, he left Bruce Pearl’s program to be closer to his ill mother, Thalia, who lives in West Haven, Conn., 78 miles from St. John’s campus, and suffered a major concussion last year. She had over 30 hospital visits and over five trips to the emergency room, a source said, making Heron want to be closer to her. A five-star, top-20 recruit out of school who was recruited by St. John’s and Mullin, he will apply for a hardship waiver to be eligible immediately. The school would likely seek outside legal help if needed, a source said.
“Family takes precedence over everything,” Heron said in a phone interview. “I wanted to be able to find a way to be close to home and still be playing in a great conference. Hopefully I can come here and have a great career here.”
But if he has to sit out a year, Heron said he’s fine with that, too. When he decided to leave Auburn, St. John’s was the first school he thought of, because of the prior relationship and the presence of Hall of Famers Mullin and assistant Mitch Richmond, who can help him reach his dream of playing in the NBA. Assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih was the point man on his recruitment, which has been the case with almost the entire roster.
“I’m still all the way in. The coaching staff knows that,” Heron said, when asked about the possibility of sitting out. “I’m not in any rush to be a professional. Right now, the priority is finishing school and being there for my mom.”
Heron averaged 16.4 points per game on 43.9 percent shooting, and 5.3 rebounds. He also shot 33.1 percent from 3-point range. If eligible, he would give the Johnnies one of the top backcourts in the country, joining Ponds, Justin Simon, Quinnipiac transfer Mikey Dixon and JUCO All-American L.J. Figueroa.
“I think we can definitely open some eyes up,” he said.
Heron is familiar with Ponds and Simon from their AAU days. He and Ponds were actually in three of the same NBA workouts, with the Nuggets, Jazz and Cavaliers. Now they’ll be teammates who averaged a combined 38 points per game last year.
“It’s pretty funny,” Heron said.
While several other Big East programs, such as national champion Villanova, Xavier, Seton Hall, Providence, Creighton and Butler, are dealing with significant losses, St. John’s can only boast an improved roster. It did lose starting forwards Bashir Ahmed (graduation) and Tariq Owens (transfer), but the Red Storm is not only adding Heron, if he gets the waiver, but sit-out transfers Sedee Keita (South Carolina) and Dixon, the sharpshooting Figueroa, and highly regarded incoming recruit Greg Williams, a physical guard from Louisiana.
After having just eight eligible scholarship players for large portions of last season, Mullin will have a full roster at his disposal next year.
“With the pieces we have,” Heron said, “we definitely can be special.”