Kadary Richmonds late heroics let No. 15 St. Johns survive wild Providence rally to extend win streak
Over and over, St.John’s coaches and players insisted they weren’t worried about Kadary Richmond.Even as he lay in the weeds and didn’t make an impact through much of the non-conference season.
Sure, there were brief glimpses when he would take over.Just not consistency. That patience appears to be paying off.
The Seton Hall transfer is hitting his stride at the right time, playing like one of the best players in the country of late. With Deivon Smith out recently, Richmond took charge.And in Smith’s first game on Saturday, Richmond was even better.
He kept them afloat early when nobody could get anything to fall and sank the game-winning shot with three seconds to go, powering the 15th-ranked Johnnies to a dramatic 68-66 victory over Providence at the Garden for their eighth straight victory and 14th win in 15 tries. Richmond poured in 24 points, and added eight rebounds and eight assists as St.John’s moved ahead of Marquette atop the Big East for the moment.
He also sank a pair of 3-pointers as the Red Storm recovered after blowing a 19-point lead with 8:32 left. St.John’s trailed by seven late in the first half, then scored 32 of the game’s next 43 points.
Richmond’s 3-point play with 10:05 left pushed the lead to the aforementioned 19.Then Providence got red-hot from deep, pulling even at 66 with 32.3 seconds left on Bensley Joseph’s 3-pointer.
Richmond then went to work, scoring on a pull-up jumper with three seconds left.Joseph’s heave at the horn was off the mark. RJ Luis added 19 points and eight rebounds and Zuby Ejiofor had 13 and five.
In his return, Smith chipped in six assists.Jabri Abdur-Rahim had 27 points and eight 3-pointer for Providence. It was a minor miracle St.
John’s led at halftime.It had a scoring drought of 5:44 in the first half, started the game by shooting 3-of-21 from the field, managed just six points in the paint and was blanked in transition.
It was also outrebounded by six, a rarity. The Johnnie...