Takeaways: when grit and determination were not quite enough

The St. John’s Red Storm basketball team fought hard but came up a bit short in a spirited second half comeback against the 24th ranked Xavier Musketeers last night.

Fans, when asked before the game, to identify the keys to a Red Storm upset cited two things:

· Find an offensive threat amongst St. John’s frontcourt players.

These hopes were challenged in the first eleven seconds of the game when Xavier isolated 6 ‘6” Edmond Sumner down low on 6’0” Marcus LoVett for a short turnaround shot and a 2 to 0 lead. St. John’s played catch-up for the rest of the game.

At the 17:35 mark St. John’s hit its first points as LoVett found Kassoum Yakwe on the left side for a four footer and hopes that the…