VILLANOVA, Pa. — To be the best in the Big East, No. 24 St. John’s had to beat the best.
Thirty-six strong minutes against Villanova weren’t enough.
The Red Storm fell apart in the final four minutes, failing to finish off the defending national champs in a 76-71 loss Tuesday night at Finneran Pavilion.
“They’re past champions, but this is anybody’s league right now,” St. John’s point guard Shamorie Ponds said. “It’s up in the air for anybody.”
If that’s the case, St. John’s (14-2, 2-2 Big East) missed a golden chance to make its mark.
Playing their first game as a ranked team in four years, the Johnnies built up a second-half lead as large as 11 points before it evaporated. They still led 67-62 with 4:07 left, but made just one field goal the rest of the way. That came on a deep jumper from Marvin Clark II that cut the deficit to 74-71 with 39 seconds to go.
The Red Storm got the stop on Villanova’s ensuing possession, but Wildcats freshman forward Saddiq Bey got his own rebound and then was fouled with 9.9 seconds left. Bey sank both free throws to ice it.
“I thought giving up offensive rebounds hurt us more than anything,” St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said.
The Wildcats (12-4, 3-0), who used a 12-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 51-50 with 14:27 left, finished with nine offensive boards and a 39-28 rebounding advantage overall. Clark took the blame after finishing with only eight points and five rebounds.
“That falls on me,” the 6-foot-7 Clark said of the rebounding. “I got to be better. I’m the biggest player out there, I’m usually coming up with those plays, and I didn’t make them.”
Clark wasn’t alone, though. The Johnnies shot just 12-for-33 from the field in the second half after hitting 50 percent in the first 20 minutes, when they came out on fire and built up a 13-point lead. They started the game 6-for-9 from 3-point range but finished 13-for-35, with both contested and uncontested looks refusing to fall down the stretch.
Ponds scored 15 of his team-high 23 points in the first half, but Mullin said the junior was “a little non-aggressive” in the second half.
“On the road, we just got to fight,” Ponds said. “We can’t leave the game up to the refs’ hands on the road. It’s hard to get anything on the road.”
The officials included Michael Stephens, who was at the center of the late blown call that cost St. John’s in its loss to Seton Hall.
For the fourth time this season, Mullin only went two deep on his bench, with Sedee Keita and Bryan Trimble Jr. Mustapha Heron battled foul trouble in the second half and LJ Figueroa missed time late after tweaking his ankle, but Mullin stuck to his short rotation.
Coming off Saturday’s overtime win at Georgetown — in which St. John’s showed the finishing touch that was missing Tuesday — the Johnnies said they did not think fatigue was an issue in the end.
“Just in-game situations. Score, time, foul trouble, things like that,” said Mullin, who confirmed that freshman guard Greg Williams was available, though he did not play. “I didn’t really overthink it. Kept the guys in I thought were going to help us win the game.”
Instead, the game-changers were wearing Villanova jerseys and were the two returning starters from last year’s team that went all the way. Eric Paschall, a Dobbs Ferry native and Fordham transfer, and Phil Booth combined for 48 points and 15 rebounds.
They made sure, at least for one more night, the Big East still runs through them.
“We’ve played a lot of close games. We’re fine. We’re good,” Mullin said. “We play them again. They come to New York. It’s all good.”