St. John's hits lead Seton Hall to worst loss of season so far

College basketball

by Zach Braziller

There is no longer any room for question.

Rick Pitino's first season is going to be a huge disappointment.

The latest setback was the worst yet.

A 19-point lead to Seton Hall.

The second half was as bad as any St. John's has played in recent memory.

The Johnnies' rapid race to shake off this once-promising season appears to have reached the finish line with this ugly 68-62 setback at UBS Arena.

“This is the most unfun experience of my life,” Pitino said.

They have now lost eight of 10 and could afford to forget about an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. It got so bad that the home crowd booed late in the second half and at the horn.

St. John's led by 19 points late in the first half. He was up to 11 in the first half.

Then, like so many of her recent losses, things went wrong. The violation disappeared. The defense returned the error.

No one was able to calm the team down. Just one player after another making mistakes on each end of the floor.

“I'm sure when you lose, everyone is disappointed,” Pitino said. “I was disappointed for various reasons, not the end result.”

That 4-1 start in the league feels like it happened years ago, not months. It was St. John's' third straight loss — and the third straight game in which it led at halftime.

The second half was as ugly as it sounds.

Seton Hall edged St. John's 39-21.

The Johnnies started 1 of 11 from the field and didn't get much better, finishing 8 of 33 from the field in the final 20 minutes.

They had just six points in the paint after halftime and were outscored by 11 points.

Dennis Jenkins scored 17 points and six assists, and Joel Soriano, who returned to the starting lineup after sitting on the bench, added 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Prince Dawes scored 19 points, followed by Kadare Richmond with 18 points and 11 rebounds.