By ADAM ZAGORIA
Shamorie Ponds and his St. John’s teammates have lofty goals for this season.
Those goals involve qualifying for the NCAA Tournament and making some noise in March.
The Johnnies earned an early taste of glory on Tuesday night when Ponds poured in 35 points with 7 assists, and scored the game-winner on a coast-to-coast driving layup as the Red Storm fended off a tough VCU team, 87-86, in overtime to win the Legends Classic at Barclays Center. St. John’s improved to 5-0 on the season.
.@ShamorieP is the hero as @StJohnsBBall wins the @LegendsBBall 87-86 over VCU. pic.twitter.com/arvXVsBcSv
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) November 21, 2018
Ponds appeared to foul VCU’s Marcus Evans on the final play of the game as Evans pulled up for a jumper, but no foul was called and St. John’s celebrated the victory.
“He’s put on a show,” St. John’s coach Chris Mullin told reporters. “He played at one of the highest levels I’ve seen for two games straight in 48 hours. He basically hit two game-winners, and I haven’t seen a guard play like that in 48 hours that I can recall.”
ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla compared the left-handed Ponds to Houston Rockets star James Harden. Ponds is working on become more of a facilitator, but on these two nights he was also unstoppable as a scorer. In two nights playing before dozens of NBA scouts, Ponds combined for 67 points and 12 assists.
“Shamorie has a gift,” Mullin said. “He has an incredible touch, feel and instinct for the game. He made a few tough shots, shots only he can make.”
“He can really score from all three levels and is comfortable using both hands to handle and finish [which] helps with the diversity in his game,” one NBA scout in attendance said after Monday’s win over Cal “He’s really fun to watch when he’s cooking like that.”
For his part, Ponds has bigger dreams beyond titles in November.
“Getting off to a 5-0 start, it’s great for us, but we can’t stop here,” he said. “We’re not satisfied.”
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L.J. Figueroa added 15 points and 9 rebounds for St. John’s, and Marvin Clark II and Mikey Dixon scored 10 apiece. Junior Issac Vann poured in 30 for VCU, which suffered its first loss of the season.
Photo: St. John’s
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