Rumble in the Garden · Dec 30, 2016
St. John’s final: Johnnies upend Butler 76-73
St. John's pulled out the win for the home crowd in the Big East opener, knocking off the xx-xx to the Butler Bulldogs, who came into the game ranked #13.
St. John’s improves to 7-7 on the season. Butler falls to 11-2. And the Big East further cements its reputation of “no days off” in conference play
St. John's gave the Bulldogs a run all game, behind the kind of tough performance from Bashir Ahmed (19 points) that was expected when he signed with St. John's as a JUCO standout, and behind continued star performances from Shamorie Ponds, who had 26 points to lead all scorers.
There's seemed to be a limit to what this team can do on pure grit, on individual play and without threes.