By JP Pelzman
NEWARK – Minutes before Shavar Reynolds lined up what was to become the biggest shot of his life Saturday night, hordes of people on social media already were complaining about how Seton Hall’s upcoming late-game possession was undeserved and how the game already should have been over. Or, at the very least, they were saying that St. John’s should have been awarded the ball after an inexplicable screwup by lead official Michael Stephens.
All of this is true, but it doesn’t take away the fact that, presented with a post-Christmas gift, Reynolds and Seton Hall took full advantage. And a former walk-on got a chance to be mobbed by his teammates in a scrum that looked more physical than most of what was served up in the (yawn) College Football Playoff semifinals Saturday.
Reynolds drained a three-pointer with four-tenths of a second remaining to give Seton Hall a 76-74 win over St. John’s in the Big East opener for both teams in front of a sellout crowd of 10,481 at the Prudential Center. The shot completed a comeback from a 12-point second-half deficit against a talent-rich St. John’s team that, nonetheless, hadn’t tested himself with a rigorous non-conference schedule the way Kevin Willard’s team did.
“All the hard work, all the hours in the gym, it was all worth it,” said Reynolds, who was in the game for The Hall’s final offensive possession because starter Myles Cale had fouled out. Reynolds, who earned a scholarship by impressing Willard with his defensive intensity and ability, wasn’t the first option.
St. John’s, naturally, blanketed Myles Powell. So Quincy McKnight inbounded to Sandro Mamukelashvili. He drove the lane, but instead of going for a contested drive, kicked it out to Reynolds on the right wing.
“I’m still in shock,” Reynolds said shortly afterward. “When I saw it go up, it looked good,” although he admitted it seemed to take “forever” for it finally to drop through the net. He was swarmed by his teammates, who tackled him on the far end of the court.
“I feel great for him,” McKnight said. “We watch Shavar work as hard as anybody on our team. … From the moment he got here, he’s been working hard.
“There’s been games this year where he didn’t play, or he thought he played bad,” McKnight added, “as soon as we got back to school, no matter what time it was, he was right back in the gym, putting up shots ’til midnight or 1 o’clock in the morning. We’re so proud of him. We told him in the huddle (before the winning possession) be ready. If the ball comes to you, bro, shoot it. And it came to him and he knocked it down. I’m just so happy for him I can’t even put it into words.”
“It’s really gratifying,” Willard said, referring to the sophomore guard who quickly has become a folk hero after being a walk-on as a freshman. “Every high school kid should understand that if you work really hard, have a good attitude and you’re a good person, good things will happen to you. That’s Shavar Reynolds. He’s a good kid, he’s a 4.0 student and good things are happening to him because of his hard work.”
But, of course, the story of the game on a national level will be less about Reynolds’ perseverance and ability to rise to the occasion, and more about the way the final 3.9 seconds were botched. Granted, St. John’s (12-1) put itself in a bad position when Mustapha Heron (a 75 percent foul shooter) and Shamorie Ponds (88.7) each missed the front end of a one-and-one in the final seconds, giving The Hall (10-3) one final opportunity, trailing 74-73.
But that opportunity probably shouldn’t have happened, given the fact McKnight’s original inbounds pass from the baseline was tipped by SJU’s LJ Figueroa, who managed to re-direct the ball back inbounds to a teammate before going out of bounds himself. But Stephens already had raised his arm to stop play while Figueroa was airborne in a classic case of calling the play before it happened. Stephens can be seen on the replay looking at fellow official James Breeding with somewhat of “I don’t know” expression on his face.
Those two officials then went to the monitor for a longer period of time than the two CFP games were competitive (OK, maybe it was not that long) and finally awarded Seton Hall the ball with 3.1 seconds remaining. The call at least should have been an inadvertent whistle, which could have given SJU the ball back on the possession arrow.
Willard said he wasn’t thinking about any potential controversy as the delay went on. “We just drew up the play,” he said.
An understandably angry St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said he never got an explanation of what actually happened. “If you get one,” he said, “let me know.”
A Big East spokesman said, “The official decided it was a timing error. The clock didn’t start on the initial touch by the St. John’s defender on the throw-in.”
Well, that really doesn’t explain anything. But maybe The Hall was due something like this (cough, John Clougherty, cough). And of course there were crucial phantom foul calls late in overtime in losses to Rutgers in 2005 and 2012, the latter of which perhaps cost the Pirates an NCAA at-large bid that year.
So Willard and Co. aren’t about to give this one back.
“We love each other. This is a family,” Powell said. “A lot of people didn’t think we’d be here right now.”
But there they were Saturday, with big assists going to Sandro Mamukelashvili and yes, Michael Stephens.
COMMENTS
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
NEWARK – Minutes before Shavar Reynolds lined up what was to become the biggest shot of his life Saturday night, hordes of people on social media already were complaining about how Seton Hall’s upcoming late-game possession was undeserved and how the game already should have been over. Or, at the very least, they were saying that St. John’s should have been awarded the ball after an inexplicable screwup by lead official Michael Stephens.
All of this is true, but it doesn’t take away the fact that, presented with a post-Christmas gift, Reynolds and Seton Hall took full advantage. And a former walk-on got a chance to be mobbed by his teammates in a scrum that looked more physical than most of what was served up in the (yawn) College Football Playoff semifinals Saturday.
Reynolds drained a three-pointer with four-tenths of a second remaining to give Seton Hall a 76-74 win over St. John’s in the Big East opener for both teams in front of a sellout crowd of 10,481 at the Prudential Center. The shot completed a comeback from a 12-point second-half deficit against a talent-rich St. John’s team that, nonetheless, hadn’t tested himself with a rigorous non-conference schedule the way Kevin Willard’s team did.
“All the hard work, all the hours in the gym, it was all worth it,” said Reynolds, who was in the game for The Hall’s final offensive possession because starter Myles Cale had fouled out. Reynolds, who earned a scholarship by impressing Willard with his defensive intensity and ability, wasn’t the first option.
St. John’s, naturally, blanketed Myles Powell. So Quincy McKnight inbounded to Sandro Mamukelashvili. He drove the lane, but instead of going for a contested drive, kicked it out to Reynolds on the right wing.
“I’m still in shock,” Reynolds said shortly afterward. “When I saw it go up, it looked good,” although he admitted it seemed to take “forever” for it finally to drop through the net. He was swarmed by his teammates, who tackled him on the far end of the court.
“I feel great for him,” McKnight said. “We watch Shavar work as hard as anybody on our team. … From the moment he got here, he’s been working hard.
“There’s been games this year where he didn’t play, or he thought he played bad,” McKnight added, “as soon as we got back to school, no matter what time it was, he was right back in the gym, putting up shots ’til midnight or 1 o’clock in the morning. We’re so proud of him. We told him in the huddle (before the winning possession) be ready. If the ball comes to you, bro, shoot it. And it came to him and he knocked it down. I’m just so happy for him I can’t even put it into words.”
“It’s really gratifying,” Willard said, referring to the sophomore guard who quickly has become a folk hero after being a walk-on as a freshman. “Every high school kid should understand that if you work really hard, have a good attitude and you’re a good person, good things will happen to you. That’s Shavar Reynolds. He’s a good kid, he’s a 4.0 student and good things are happening to him because of his hard work.”
But, of course, the story of the game on a national level will be less about Reynolds’ perseverance and ability to rise to the occasion, and more about the way the final 3.9 seconds were botched. Granted, St. John’s (12-1) put itself in a bad position when Mustapha Heron (a 75 percent foul shooter) and Shamorie Ponds (88.7) each missed the front end of a one-and-one in the final seconds, giving The Hall (10-3) one final opportunity, trailing 74-73.
But that opportunity probably shouldn’t have happened, given the fact McKnight’s original inbounds pass from the baseline was tipped by SJU’s LJ Figueroa, who managed to re-direct the ball back inbounds to a teammate before going out of bounds himself. But Stephens already had raised his arm to stop play while Figueroa was airborne in a classic case of calling the play before it happened. Stephens can be seen on the replay looking at fellow official James Breeding with somewhat of “I don’t know” expression on his face.
Those two officials then went to the monitor for a longer period of time than the two CFP games were competitive (OK, maybe it was not that long) and finally awarded Seton Hall the ball with 3.1 seconds remaining. The call at least should have been an inadvertent whistle, which could have given SJU the ball back on the possession arrow.
Willard said he wasn’t thinking about any potential controversy as the delay went on. “We just drew up the play,” he said.
An understandably angry St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said he never got an explanation of what actually happened. “If you get one,” he said, “let me know.”
A Big East spokesman said, “The official decided it was a timing error. The clock didn’t start on the initial touch by the St. John’s defender on the throw-in.”
Well, that really doesn’t explain anything. But maybe The Hall was due something like this (cough, John Clougherty, cough). And of course there were crucial phantom foul calls late in overtime in losses to Rutgers in 2005 and 2012, the latter of which perhaps cost the Pirates an NCAA at-large bid that year.
So Willard and Co. aren’t about to give this one back.
“We love each other. This is a family,” Powell said. “A lot of people didn’t think we’d be here right now.”
But there they were Saturday, with big assists going to Sandro Mamukelashvili and yes, Michael Stephens.
COMMENTS
https://setonhall.rivals.com/
