QUEENS, NY – After falling behind by 25 points in the second half, the Saint Peter's men's basketball team used a late 26-7 rally to bring its contest at St. John's University to single digits. Despite the late run, the Peacocks came up short of the upset win, falling 79-69 to the Red Storm. Freshman guard
Aaron Estrada scored a team-high 18 points in the game.
How it Happened
- Saint Peter's had a difficult time converting on its shot attempts early on, falling behind 29-9 with 7:44 left.
- Through the opening 12 plus minutes, the Peacocks were shooting 20 percent from the field (4-20), and 14.3 percent from deep (1-7).
- In addition to the poor shooting, Saint Peter's turned the ball over nine times.
- The Peacocks shooting struggles would change over the final seven minutes of the half, with the team outscoring St. John's, 14-8, for a 37-23 halftime score.
- The Peacocks used five combined layups by Fousseyni Drame, Derrick Woods, KC Ndefo, and Estrada to power the run.
- The second half began and continued much like the first half as the Peacocks watched their deficit grow to 25 points with just over eight to play, trailing 68-43.
- For the next 7:05, the Peacocks took complete control of the game, going on an astounding 26-7 run.
- During the run, Saint Peter's went 10-for-14 from the floor, 4-for-5 from behind the arc, and forced six Red Storm turnovers.
- The rally got sparked by back-to-back triples from Daryl Banks III, which put the Peacocks on a 12-0 run with Estrada, F. Drame, and Ndefo each chipping in with two points of their own.
- The team would pull within single digits when Estrada hit a three-pointer and Quinn Taylor converted a turnover by St. John's, into a made layup on the offensive end, bringing the game to 69-75 with 1:05 remaining.
- With under one minute to play, the Peacocks missed several opportunities to score a basket and also missed late free throws, while the Red Storm was able to convert on four free throws to stop the upset minded Peacocks.
Inside the Numbers
- As well as leading the Peacocks in scoring, Estrada also handed out a team-best five assists, made a team-leading four steals, and grabbed four rebounds --- all career high marks.
- F. Drame followed with a career-best 10 points and five rebounds. Banks and Doug Edert each chipped in with nine points.
- Of Saint Peter's 69 total points, 57 were scored by underclassmen.
- The Peacocks won the battle of the boards for the third time in four games, out rebounding the Red Storm 44-40 --- Saint Peter's also won the rebounding battle against its first Big East Conference opponent Providence.
- A season-high 23 out of the 44 rebounds came on the offensive glass.
- The visiting squad also forced a season-best 19 turnovers.
The Tale of the Under Eight Minute Mark
- During the final eight minutes of both halves, Saint Peter's outscored St. John's 40-19, while shooting a combined 16-for-30 from the field, and 5-for-11 from deep.
- During the game's other 24 minutes, the Peacocks were outscored 60-29 and shot an unimpressive 10-for-40 from the field, and 4-for-16 from three.
Coach's Quotes - Shaheen Holloway
On tonight's game...
- "Just playing hard, it's just guys playing with some toughness in finding a way to execute what we want to do with the game plan; to drive the ball and make them play defense, which they don't want to play. They just want to get it quick and get out. We came back with to make some shots. Aaron [Estrada] was great down the stretch for us but we didn't play well today. I'm very disappointed in our effort. For the first 30-32 minutes of the game, we looked scared."
On St. John's...
- "They did a good job. Coach Anderson is a very good coach. They got two leaders in Mustapha [Heron] and [LJ] Figueroa, they came out and they established early control of the game and it was an uphill battle from there."
On moving forward...
- "When you've got six young freshmen that's playing a lot of minutes, it's going to be a roller coaster. It's gonna take time and it's a process. Just keep building and see what we do with the next one."
Up Next
- The men will not be in action for over a week, returning to the Yanitelli Center hardwood on Wednesday, Dec. 11 when the team entertains Fairleigh Dickinson at 7 p.m.
