St. John’s drops non-conference finale, a 59-57 loss to Pitt

A Champagnie-less St. John’s team led for 32 minutes of the contest but stumbled late to lose, 59-57, in the team’s non-conference finale. With the cancellation of the game against Seton Hall, St. John’s opens Big East play against Butler on Thursday evening.

In the game that was originally slated as the battle of the Champagnies, in which twins Justin Champagnie and Julian Champagnie were to face off, neither brother actually played with Justin Champagnie on a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors and Julian Champagnie out with a positive Covid-19 test.

In response to Champagnie’s absence and Posh Alexander’s shooting slump, Pitt appeared to opt for packing in the paint and seeing if the Johnnies could score consistently from the perimeter.