It was easy to forget that it was only a late October preseason game inside Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. St. John’s and Michigan scrapped and clawed like it was a Sweet Sixteen game in March for forty minutes plus an extra period. The Red Storm had plenty of chances to secure a confidence-boosting victory ahead of the new season, but came up short because of mounting foul trouble and continued three-point woes against the seventh-ranked Wolverines, falling 96-94 in overtime.
Despite nearly reaching triple-digits in the scoring column, the Red Storm never entered an offensive groove because of a fatal issue they are well acquainted with. Altogether, the Red Storm shot 4-of-23 from three, and two of those triples came in overtime by Lefteris Liotopoulos. Sharp-shooters Oziyah Sellers and Joson Sanon could never stay on the court long enough to find their rhythm, both fouling out after 23 combined minutes played, while Ian Jackson had a 1-of-8 shooting night he would like to forget.
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Michigan remained in control for most of the first half despite committing 15 of its 22 turnovers in the opening twenty minutes, with many of those giveaways coming off errant passes and miscommunication rather than pressure forced by St. John’s. The Red Storm never secured the lead for more than a possession or two until the final four minutes of the first half. Before they could go into halftime with a four-point edge, Elliot Cadeau drained a step-back three to cut the St. John’s lead to 35-34 going into the break.
As their three-point shooting went missing again, St. John’s leaned on their formidable frontcourt trio to hold the offense together in the second half. Zuby Ejiofor showed more aggression and scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half, including hitting 12 of his 13 attempts from the free throw line. The senior big man even displayed slick playmaking, logging a team-high six assists. Bryce Hopkins continued to never let the Johnnies fall into a funk, scoring 13 points and pulling down a team-best nine rebounds while leading the team with 40 minutes played.
Cincinnati transfer Dillon Mitchell woke up the Garden crowd late into the game, tallying 11 of his 13 points in the second half and producing a pair of mind-bending dunks. With Michigan leading 64-63 with 7:36 remaining after Ian Jackson missed a three-point jumper, Dillon Mitchell came down from the free throw line and committed the rare feat of posterizing his own teammate with a putback dunk. Poor Ruben Prey.
There wasn’t any friendly fire three minutes later. Off the inbound play, Mitchell and Dylan Darling teamed up and forced Conrad Cason to give up a turnover. Darling handed the ball off to Mitchell, who charged to the rim and hammered it over the rangy Yaxel Lendeborg.
Yet, Michigan nullified the incredible play from the Red Storm’s trio, picking their defense apart to the tune of 50 points and a 60-percent shooting rate in the second half. Former Red Storm commit Yaxel Lendeborg showed Rick Pitino what he could have had, posting a 25-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead the Wolverines.
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In fact, immediately after getting baptized on that slam by Mitchell, Lendeborg dusted himself off and marched down the floor to score a fastbreak layup — one of multiple quick buckets by the Wolverines recorded off broken defensive coverage from St. John’s.
Both teams played nip and tuck as the game remained tied going into the final minute. Bryce Hopkins could have taken the final shot, but Roddy Gayle, Jr. intercepted the ball before the Providence transfer could muster an attempt, sending the game to overtime with the score tied at 84.
Michigan opened overtime with an 8-0 run and appeared to have the game in the bag after Morez Johnson threw down a fastbreak dunk to give the Wolverines a 92-84 lead, however Lefteris Liotopoulos responded with a 8-0 run of his own off the bench to knot the game at 92.
Soon after Morez Johnson again gave Michigan the lead with a second-chance layup, Lefteris Liotopoulos had the opportunity to become the hero after drawing a shooting foul against Elliot Cadeau while he was in the act of taking a three-point jumper. The sophomore from Greece made the first free throw, but missed the next two, with Yaxel Lendeborg grabbing the rebound and running out the clock until St. John’s finally fouled with a little over one second remaining. After Roddy Gayle, Jr. split the free throws, it gave the Johnnies barely enough time for a missed heave from 60 feet out by Bryce Hopkins as the buzzer sounded.
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The Red Storm will have nine more days to prepare for their regular-season opener against Quinnipiac at Carnesecca Arena on Monday, November 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FS1.
