St. John’s basketball falls to Baylor in double OT heartbreaker after Jeremy Roach hits buzzer-beater

The Red Storm led by five with 18 seconds remaining in double OT, but missed foul shots doomed them to one of their most devastating results in recent memory

St. John’s men’s basketball has an extensive modern history of brutal shortcomings. The end of Thursday night’s game against Baylor might be the pinnacle of psychological torture for Red Storm fans.

After an exhausting fifty minutes of play, St. John’s held a two-point lead with 4.1 seconds remaining in the second period of overtime. Zuby Ejiofor, who had a team-high 22 points yet struggled with a rough 6-of-10 free throw shooting night, stepped to the line and clanked both of his attempts. R.J. Luis bobbled a potential game-clinching rebound off the second miss, and the ball bounced into Norchad Omier’s hands.

The 6-foot-9 Omier zipped down the floor and threw a stretch pass to Jeremy Roach, who hurried to his spot at the top of the key. What follows next will be seared in the minds of Red Storm fans for the foreseeable future.

Instead of prevailing in a heart-pounding instant classic that would give the Red Storm its first statement win in god-knows-how-long, St. John’s was once again the bridesmaid in cruel fashion, falling 99-98 in double overtime to No. 13 Baylor in the first round of the Baha Mar Bahamas Championship.

This game’s script couldn’t have been any different, just a half hour of game action before. St. John’s were rolling to a dream-like start, dominating Baylor and holding an 18-point lead with four minutes remaining in the first half, then entering halftime with a 44-30 lead. The Red Storm shot 58.6 percent from the field and made eight of eleven three-point attempts in the first half. The sizeable red-clad following turned Baha Mar into Carnesecca Arena South.

However, a game against Baylor is never going to be that simple. The Bears kept chipping away at the lead deep into the second half. Norchad Omier was on a mission to bring Baylor back into this game, scoring 14 of his team-high 24 points in the second half. The Bear’s perimeter shooting caught fire with eight threes in a half of their own. Jalen Celestine and Robert Wright led Baylor with four threes apiece, with Celestine scoring three of his triples in the second half.

The Bears finally tied the game with 3:32 remaining before a Jayden Nunn jumper with 2:41 left completed the comeback.

Even though the Bears seized momentum, the Red Storm did not wilt at the end of regulation. Kadary Richmond missed his first five attempts in the second half but made his sixth when it mattered most, tying the game with a drive to the basket and forcing overtime.

If you noticed at the end of that clip, Richmond came up lame and slowly trotted down the court in pain. Baylor looked to be in the driver’s seat, taking an 86-81 lead with 1:46 remaining on a breakaway dunk for Bahamian native V.J. Edgecombe. Despite looking a step slower, Kadary Richmond scored the final five points of the first overtime to play on five more minutes. Richmond would end the night with 14 points (4-of-11), four rebounds, and seven assists.

In the second overtime, St. John’s looked like they had all the momentum, dicing up the Bears to make four of their first six attempts.

R.J. Luis and Aaron Scott enjoyed incredible shooting nights, with Luis scoring 16 points (6-of-13 FG, 3-of-5 3P) and Aaron Scott recording 20 points off the bench (6-of-8 FG, 5-of-6 3P). Both wings buried a three within a minute of each other in the second overtime. Soon after, a Simeon Wilcher triple put St. John’s up 97-92 with 2:20 remaining.

St. John’s scrambled on defense for the next two minutes, keeping Baylor off the board. When Deivon Smith pulled down a rebound after a Norchad Omier missed three and drew a foul with 19 seconds remaining, it appeared St. John’s would survive.

Here’s the rub. St. John’s was 15-of-24 (62 percent) from the free throw line to that point. Baylor was somehow worse with a 14-of-23 performance (60.9 percent), but those precious freebies at the line could have decided this game already for the Red Storm.

Deivon Smith went to the line and missed his first free throw; he then made the second to give the Red Storm a five-point lead with 14 seconds remaining. Baylor would call a timeout, then immediately score on a critical three-pointer from V.J. Edgecombe to keep the game within reach at 98-96 with seven seconds remaining.

St. John’s took a timeout of their own to draw up an inbound play with R.J. Luis throwing the ball back into play, but Baylor covered the Red Storm’s better free throw shooters, leaving Zuby Ejiofor the open man to receive the inbound, taking the foul, and thus leading to the missed free throws and eventual game-winner that will replay in the minds of Red Storm fans all night.

Many will harp on the frozen game clock on the last play of the game, as it appeared the clock should have started a few tenths-of-a-second sooner, but there is nothing the St. John’s can do now and there is no time to stew on this loss.

In less than twenty-four hours, they have to put this gut-wrenching loss behind them and return to the ballroom hardwood for the consolation game of the Baha Mar Bahamas Championship where they will face Virginia on Friday night (7:00 p.m., CBSSN). They will stay in the Bahamas to face Georgia on Sunday morning (11:00 a.m., CBSSN).

St. John’s can still claim a nice win or two for their tournament résumé while they’re here in the Bahamas, but Red Storm fans will look back on this what-if game for years to come.