The No. 22 Red Storm showed no fatigue or any hangover from their previous loss and throttled Virginia, 80-55, in the third-place game of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship on Friday in Nassau, Bahamas. St.
John’s built an 11-point lead less than nine minutes into action, and after UVa briefly tightened the contest, the Red Storm answered with a 16-0 run that buried the Hoos before the game even reached halftime, sending them to their second-consecutive setback of 20 points or more. UVa was hammered by No. 11 Tennessee in the second semifinal of the event on Thursday.
Baylor guard Jeremy Roach’s 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the No. 13 Bears a 99-98 victory in two overtimes against the Red Storm in the first semifinal. St.
John’s coach Rick Pitino’s program bounced back, though, thanks to star guard RJ Luis Jr.’s 18 points. He had nine of those during the Red Storm’s game-deciding run.
Here are three takeaways from the Cavaliers’ loss. A difference in athleticism Pitino’s bunch wanted to run, and desired to keep pushing the pace. St.
John’s had 11 fast-break points while UVa went without any fast-break points. And about five minutes into the game, there was a moment when the discrepancy between the Red Storm’s comfort playing quickly and UVa’s lack of athleticism to match that style was revealed. Cavaliers forward Elijah Saunders, who had a team-best 12 points in the loss, had an opportunity for a layup in transition to grow what was an early one-point advan.