March 23, 2012
Third-seeded St. John’s came away with a 74-70 win over
Oklahoma on March 20 to advance to the regional semifinals of the
NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.
The game, played on Oklahoma’s home court in front of a
raucous crowd, was a close contest from tipoff to the final buzzer
with the two teams trading leads throughout. The Red Storm (24-9),
who turned 19 Oklahoma turnovers into 21 points, held off a late
surge by the Sooners to secure the victory.
Junior guard
Eugeneia McPherson led all scorers with 21 points, while
Shenneika Smith added 18 and two blocked shots.
Nadirah McKenith, who hit the winning shot to beat Creighton on
Sunday, had 13 points and seven assists.
"I'm just happy that we came away with it. Oklahoma's a great,
great program, a traditionally-rich program, and for us to come
into their building and be able to pull out a victory was just
tremendous," said head coach
Kim Barnes Arico. "I'm excited to still be dancing."
The Red Storm will play No. 2 Duke in the third round of the
tournament in Fresno, CA, on Saturday.
Click
here to see CBS 2 News at 5 report.