Brenda Bazan photo

By Larry Peterson
Staff writer
Not one, not two, but three overtimes!
The DePaul Blue Demons had their second Big East basketball victory in their grasp against the visiting St. John’s Red Storm Friday, Mar. 5 at the Allstate Arena, but saw it slip away in a thrilling triple overtime game.
The near-upset victory turned to a real shocker to the Blue Demons, who had built a 20-point lead in the first half.
The Blue Demons grabbed the opening tip and took an instant 2-0 lead, increased it to 5-0 on a trey, and were up 7-0 before St. John’s got a shot off. DePaul continued to pour it on, while the Red Storm struggled to get anything to fall.
With five minutes left in the first half, the Demons owned a 20-point, 32-12 advantage. St. John’s hit a couple of late buckets and trailed 37-21 at the halftime intermission.
The visitors shot a frigid 28 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, going two-for-10 from three-point range and three-for-nine from the charity stripe. DePaul was consistent in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the arc and 50 percent from the free throw line.
The second half was a different story. St. John’s came storming back and shot 52 percent from the field, 70 percent on treys, and 50 percent from the line. The Blue Demons were an anemic 23 percent from the field, 50 percent on treys and three-for-four from the stripe.
The Red Storm began to chip away at the DePaul lead in the second half, cutting the Demons’ advantage to four points at the 10-minute mark. DePaul regrouped and built the lead to eight points with 4:14 left.
St. John’s cut the lead in half with a free throw by Paris Horne and a three-pointer by DJ Kennedy with 3:56 on the clock. The Blue Demons were limited to one free throw in the remainder of regulation time.
Horne buried a trey at 2:42 and the Red Storm trailed 56-54. The visitors’ Justin Burrell slammed down a dunk two seconds before the final buzzer. St. John’s never led in regulation time, but the thunderous dunk tied the score at 56 and sent the game into the first of three five-minute overtime sessions.
The teams traded baskets, and it was back and forth until Horne hit a bucket at 2:02 to give the Red Storm its first lead of the game at 62-60. A triple and a free throw by Kennedy gave the visitors a six-point advantage.
Again, it was back and forth scoring, and after Kennedy made a free throw to put the Storm ahead by two with six seconds left, the Demons’ Jeremiah Kelly drove the length of the court and made a layup to tie the score at 70, sending the game to a second overtime.
St. John’s scored first on a dunk by Anthony Mason Jr.. The Red Storm went ahead by five points on three free throws. DePaul’s Will Walker countered with a trey, and Kennedy hit a jumper to increase the Storm lead to four. A layup by the Demons’ Mac Koshwal cut the lead to two, and another driving layup by Jeremiah Kelly tied the score at 77. Both teams missed jump shots in the final minute and the deadlock sent them into the third overtime.
Both teams missed shots in the first minute-and-a-half in the third extra session, until Mason made a three-pointer to give St. John’s an 80-77 lead. The teams again traded baskets, but two free throws by the Storm’s Malik Boothe and a Mason dunk gave them a five-point lead and control of the game with 54 seconds left. Two missed shots by DePaul, and three consecutive free throws by St. John’s sent the downtrodden Demons to the showers with a disappointing defeat.

Brenda Bazan photo

St. John’s had a great team effort, with four players in double figures and won the battle of the boards, outrebounding DePaul 53 to 44. Kennedy set the pace for St. John’s with 32 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block. Horne contributed 20 points and seven rebounds. Mason scored 14 points, grabbed nine boards, and had four assists. Justin Burrell came off the bench and tossed in 10 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.
St. John’s was able to turn the game around with the rebounding edge, 20 of 33 free throw shooting and 75 percent three-point shooting in the overtime sessions. That’s a lot of missed free throws, but DePaul went only six-of-11 from the stripe.
Four of the five Blue Demon starters scored in double figures. Mac Koshwal, the Demons’ 6-11 junior center, had an outstanding game with 23 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He was an intimidating force in the middle, until he picked up his fourth foul early in the second half and had to back off on defense.
Mike Stovall tossed in 19 points, had four boards, three assists and three steals, followed by Jeremiah Kelly with 13 points, two boards and nine assists. Senior Will Walker, in his final regular season game for DePaul, scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.Walker was disappointed that they let a game get away that they should have won.
“We got a big lead, got a little lackadaisical, and began to play not to lose. It was a fun game, but not fun to lose. A game like this taught us a lot, and might help us going into the conference tournament,” Walker said.
A drained St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts trudged into the postgame interview room and said, “I don’t know if I can take many more of these games.
“This is the most exciting game I’ve ever been a part of in my life,” Roberts said. “I couldn’t be more proud of my team the way they battled back from a 20-point deficit.
“You have to give DePaul a lot of credit. I can’t help but feel a little sorry for them. This game could really benefit us going into the Big East Tournament. It’s a real confidence-builder,” Roberts said.
DePaul interim head coach Tracy Webster was dejected, but not totally disappointed.
“It was a tough, tough game. It was a fun game, but I wish we would have got the ‘W’. We can’t build a big lead in the first half and let it get away, but that’s what we did. We let up on defense and didn’t know where their shooters were at times in the overtimes.
“The season is now 0-0. We’ll go out and give it all we have from here on out. We’ll be ready to go, fresh legs, fresh minds, and we will play our best,” Webster said.
The Blue Demons finished the season 8-22 overall and 1-17 in the Big East Conference. They will play USF in the opening round of the Big East Conference, which begins Tuesday, March 9 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY.