The Steve Lavin era had gotten off to a good enough start: After dropping their opener in the middle of the night at Saint Mary’s, the Johnnies had rattled off five straight wins, including a tournament victory at the Great Alaska Shootout. (And that doesn’t even take into account Lavin’s outstanding 2011 recruiting class.) But last night, while one Big East school was beating the No. 8 team in the country by double digits at the Garden, St. John’s was losing an on-campus game to St. Bonaventure, the team picked to finish thirteenth out of fourteenth in the Atlantic 10.
St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson drained a jumper from the top of the key to give the Bonnies a 67–66 lead with 5.2 seconds remaining at Carnesecca Arena, and Dwight Hardy’s baseline jumper came up short at the buzzer in a game that saw five lead changes in the final 1:31. St. John’s next opponent, following their loss to the team picked thirteenth in the preseason A-10 coaches poll? The team picked fourteenth: They’ll next visit Fordham — a team, we’re sort of proud to say, that has already won more games than it did all of last year — on Saturday night.
Bonnies end Johnnies’ five-game win streak [NYP]
Andrew Nicholson’s jumper stuns Steve Lavin and St. John’s as St. Bonaventure steals 67-66 win [NYDN]