St. John’s and VCU to meet for Legends Classic crown
November 19, 2018
St. John’s and VCU will take to the Barclays Center court on Tuesday night in the championship game of the GotPrint.com Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper.
In the first semifinal game, Shamorie Ponds (pictured) scored 32 points and led a Red Storm comeback as St. John’s garnered an 82-79 win over California.
Ponds was 11-of-15 from the field, including 3-of-7 from three and a perfect 7-of-7 from the line. He also handed out five assists.
With the Red Storm trailing 67-60 with 6:39 to play, Ponds scored the next five points to cut the deficit to two. Then with 3:52 to play, Justin Simon’s layup put the Storm up 69-68. The lead swung back and forth until Ponds hit two free throws with 2:23 to play to give St. John’s the lead for good.
Joining Ponds in double figures were Mustapha Heron with 13 points, LJ Figueroa with 12 points, and Marvin Clark II with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Darius McNeill paced the Bears with 21 points. Justice Sueing had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Paris Austin scored 17 points.
In the nightcap, VCU jumped out to a 19-2 lead only to see it disappear before emerging with a 57-51 win over Temple.
The Rams scored the first 11 points of the game, led 19-2, then 21-4 with 10:31 to play in the first half. At that point, Temple outscored VCU 24-7 to close the half down 28-21.
The Owls continued to lessen the deficit until Shizz Alston hit a 3-pointer to give them a 39-38 lead with 11:01 to play. The lead seesawed for the next eight-plus minutes until Marcus Evans’ layup with 2:23 to play gave the Rams a 51-50 lead they would not relinquish.
Evans scored a game-high 21 points for the Rams, who also received 11 points from Isaac Vann. Temple was led by the 11-point effort of Nate Pierre-Louis.
St. John’s and VCU will square off at 7:30pm on Tuesday for the Legends crown with the Temple-Cal consolation game tipping at 5:00pm.
Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com
In the Subregional semifinals in Detroit, Detroit Mercy will take on Bowling Green for the title.
Bowling Green overcame a 12-points second half deficit when Demajeo Wiggins’ tip-in gave the Falcons an 81-79 win over Hampton.
They face a Titans team that received a school freshman record 42 points from Antoine Davis in a 91-63 win over Loyola Maryland.
Hampton and Loyola will tip at 5:00pm, followed by Bowling Green and Detroit Mercy at 7:30pm.
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