St. John’s Overcomes Poor First Half to Beat Lafayette, 83-68

After a poor first half showing, St. John’s pulls picks up a win over the Lafayette Leopards, 83-68.

The Johnnies came in as a 24-point favorite against a Lafayette team picked to finish last in Patriot League. However, the beauty of basketball is that you have to actually play the game, as the saying goes.

Lafayette was the first of likely many games where both teams are diametrically opposed in terms the of pace at which each team wants to play. The Leopards ranked 282nd in pace last season, as opposed to Mike Anderson’s perennial top-10 pace ranking. St. John’s wanted the pace in the 80-possessions-or-more range for the contest, Lafayette wanted the amount of possessions to be more in the…