In a battle of youth vs. experience, the young St. John’s Red Storm—which only features one senior on their roster—proved to not be fazed by the visiting No. 3-ranked Villanova.
However, by the time the final buzzer sounded, it was the veteran Wildcats who would emerge on top, overcoming a slow start to win 70-57 in front of a packed crowd of at least 18,000 spectators in Madison Square Garden.
"In the first half we played them good,” St. John’s Shamorie Ponds said. “In the second half, they attacked us and we backed down. They punched us, and we couldn’t recover from the punch that they gave us.