West Virginia fell to former Big East rival St. John’s 79-73 in this years edition of the Big East-Big 12 Battle.
Both teams started the first half out strong offensively, with both teams trading baskets for the first five minutes tying the game at 13.
West Virginia jumped out to an early lead behind a quick 6-0 run from Quinn Slazinski who made a three pointer and then made three free throws after a shooting foul before going into the first media timeout of the half.
After a Josiah Harris three made it 22-15 in favor of West Virginia, St. John’s would erase the deficit with a 10-0 run of their own behind the scoring of Chris Ledlum and Joel Soriano to take a 25-22 lead.
West Virginia would go on 6:37 scoring drought after the Josiah Harris three before a Jesse Edwards putback dunk would end the scoring drought and make it 25-24. West Virginia continued their run behind two free throws from Ofri Naveh and a Jesse Edwards layup to go up 28-25 with 4:55 left in the first half.
The two teams would trade baskets back and forth for the remainder of the half but St. Johns never retook the lead in the first half. St. John’s Chris Ledlum would make a layup with 27 seconds left in the first half to tie the game at 36-36 before the teams would head back to the locker room.
St. John’s shot 2-13 from three in the first half and only attempted five free throws compared to West Virginia who were 3-6 from three and 15-17 from the free throw line.
The second half started off nearly identical to the first with both teams trading baskets. St John’s regained the lead in just under a minute of play behind a three pointer from Jordan Dingle to make it 39-38.
Jesse Edwards would pick up his third foul of the game not even two minutes into the second half which would put him on the bench for the time being. St. John’s would take advantage of this, jumping out to a 50-45 lead.
Edwards returned after spending five minutes on the bench and immediately made his presence known after catching an alley-oop from Ofri Naveh to make it 50-47 with 12:56 to go.
Going into the under 12 media timeout, St. John’s would lead 53-47 after making their third three pointer of the half.
After the under 12 timeout, West Virginia would come out and make it 53-51 behind a free throw from Kobe Johnson and three free throws from Jesse Edwards. Just before the under 8 media timeout, Jesse Edwards would pick up foul number four to send him to the bench.
St. John’s Joel Soriano would head to the free throw line where he would miss both attempts, but the Red Storm would get the offensive rebound that would lead to a Nahiem Alleyne three to make it 58-51 with 7:41 to play.
St. John’s would go up 65-56 after a Nahiem Alleyne jumper but West Virginia responded with a Josiah Harris three pointer to put the Mountaineers within six with five minutes left to play. Following the Harris three and a pair of free throws from Ofri Naveh, Rick Pitino would call a timeout for the Red Storm with 4:08 left to play up 65-61.
Coming out of the timeout Edwards would reenter the game for West Virginia and make a layup to put the Mountaineers within four. Shortly after, West Virginia’s Quinn Slazinski would convert on an and-1 that would also see the Red Storm’s Chris Ledlum foul out of the game.
Just after this, Jesse Edwards would pick up his fifth foul of the game to end his night with 15 points and six rebounds.
West Virginia would get within two at 70-68 following a jumper from Quinn Slazinski but could not regain the lead during the game. Nahiem Alleyne would ice the game for the Red Storm following a three pointer with 20 seconds left to give St. John’s a 77-70 lead.
West Virginia would fall to St. John’s 79-73. Slazinski led the Mountaineers with 19 points.
The Mountaineers are in action again next Wednesday against Pitt in another edition of the Backyard Brawl.
