one play:
1) St Johns ML -380 ( 1U)
home team is favoured by -8.0, let's see if the red storm can win by ONE.
it's all about discipline.
good luck to all today.
let's get some MOJO:
The MSG Holiday Festival takes place tonight with the nightcap featuring a tussle between the Manhattan Jaspers and St. John's Red Storm. The winner of this contest will take on either North Carolina or Iona in tomorrow's championship game. After winning its first three games of the season, Manhattan dropped three decisions during a four-game stretch to fall to 4-3 overall. Fortunately for the Jaspers, they were able to get back on track on Monday with a 93-75 victory at Hofstra, giving them their fifth win of the young season. They are currently 1-1 in MAAC play and will get back to conference action after this tournament. As for St. John's, it opened the season with five straight double-digit victories. The Red Storm did suffer their first loss of the season last time out, an 84-72 letdown to Wake Forest on Saturday. After tonight's tilt, they have just two contests remaining before the start of Big East action. St. John's holds a 62-24 series lead over Manhattan, but the Jaspers recorded an 85-68 victory over the Red Storm in the last meeting.
After shooting just 40.6 percent from the floor in the first half against Hofstra, Manhattan connected on 64.3 percent in the closing stanza en route to the 18-point victory. The Jaspers knocked down 24-of-31 free-throw attempts in the contest and turned the ball over only 12 times. Perhaps the only negative in the contest was that they suffered a 42-33 rebounding disadvantage, including a 21-11 deficit on the offensive glass. Luis Flores knocked down all 10 of his free throws in the game and finished with 30 points for Manhattan. Mike Konovelchick added 13 points and eight rebounds in the contest, and Dave Holmes pitched in 11 points. Flores, who has started all eight games and averages over 38 minutes of floor time per outing, leads the Jaspers in the scoring column with 20.6 ppg. Holmes, who is scoring 16.3 ppg, leads the squad with 8.6 rpg. Johnson rounds out the double-digit scorers for Manhattan with 11.4 ppg on 50 percent shooting from the field.
St. John's was dominated on the interior in its 12-point loss to Wake Forest last time out. The Red Storm were outscored 22-9 from the free-throw line and outrebounded by a 49-31 margin, including 20-15 on the offensive glass. They also managed just 11 assists. Although the outcome was certainly disappointing, St. John's got an outstanding effort from standout guard Marcus Hatten. In 31 minutes of action, Hatten connected on 10-of-18 field goal attempts en route to a game-high 26 points. Elijah Ingram chipped in with 18 points despite some shooting troubles, and Anthony Glover and Willie Shaw added 11 points apiece. Through six games, Hatten is averaging 23.3 ppg to go along with 5.3 rpg. Ingram (14 ppg), Shaw (12 ppg), and Glover (10.7 ppg) have all proven to be solid performers at the offensive end as well.
