Scholarship well-earned.
Shavar Reynolds walked on at Seton Hall, but by the end of Saturday night, he was running away from his teammates before being mobbed as the hero after draining a 3-pointer that beat the buzzer for a comeback 76-74 win over St. John’s at a sold-out Prudential Center.
“It’s been a long journey,” said Reynolds, who was also fouled on the game-winning shot that fell through the nylon with 0.4 seconds on the clock. “That solidified all the hard work and all the hours in the gym. That just proved it was all worth it.”
It was a crushing first loss of the season for the Johnnies (12-1), who had led by as many as 16 points late in the first half before watching it all evaporate down the stretch. The Pirates (10-3) hadn’t led all game, but used a late 10-0 run to get back into it before Myles Powell drove to the basket for a layup with 1:00 left for their first lead, 73-72.
Two free throws from Mustapha Heron (19 points) gave St. John’s the lead back at 74-73 with 42.9 seconds left. Heron and Shamorie Ponds both went on to miss the front end of one-and-ones, setting up Seton Hall’s final possession, which did not come without controversy.
Before Reynolds got off the final shot, Seton Hall was inbounding the ball with 3.9 seconds left. LJ Figueroa got his hand on the pass while he was inbounds before leaping into court-side seats to try to save it from going out of bounds, with his redirection finding a teammate. But the play had been whistled dead, and after officials held a lengthy review, Seton Hall was awarded the ball with 3.1 seconds to go.
According to a Big East official, the referees were reviewing a “timing error” because the clock did not start on Figueroa’s initial touch. They were not looking at whether Figueroa stepped out of bounds, which replays did not clearly show he did.
“Even though you don’t get fined in college … I should say something — I’m going to keep my thoughts to myself on that,” St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said.
On Seton Hall’s second chance, Reynolds didn’t miss. The sophomore from Manchester, N.J., was awarded a scholarship in August and entered Saturday averaging 1.9 points per game. He came off the bench to finish with eight points, none bigger than the final three, when he was the third option on the play. The first was Powell, who was guarded heavily by the Red Storm, and the second was Sandro Mamukelashvili. The 6-foot-10 forward got a mismatch against Ponds as he drove into the paint, but decided to kick outside to Reynolds.
“I’m still in shock, to be honest,” Reynolds said. “I don’t really realize what just happened, fully, to be honest.”
Reynolds missed the ensuing free throw on purpose and the Johnnies were unable to get off a final heave.
Mullin was not pleased with the inbounds call, but lamented other opportunities his team missed out on to put Seton Hall away earlier.
“We just never really created any separation,” Mullin said. “It was a heck of a game. Their kid made a heck of a shot.”
St. John’s had gotten off to a near-perfect start, racing out to a 13-2 lead just 2:45 into the game. The Johnnies’ biggest lead of the night came with 3:15 left in the first half, 39-25, even without Ponds entering the scoring column until there was 10:25 left in the game.
Powell led four Pirates in double digits with 15 points while Mamukelashvili, Michael Nzei, Quincy McKnight each had 14.
“We’ve played a lot of good teams, that might be the best team we’ve played, one through five,” Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. “I think this was the best win I’ve ever had in this building.”