S26DylanDarling Caption: St. John’s guard Dylan Darling (0) is joyously surrounded by teammates after hitting the game-winning buzzer beater to defeat Kansas 67-65 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. Credit: (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
St. John’s dramatically storms into the Sweet 16 to face top seed Duke
By DERREL JOHNSON
Special to the AmNews
The St. John’s men’s basketball team’s opportunity to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 was being squandered. Their 14-point second-half lead over the Kansas Jayhawks at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California, in Sunday’s second round NCAA Tournament East Region matchup evaporated.
With the clock reading 3.9 seconds left in regulation and the score tied at 65, the Red Storm placed the ball in the hands of 6’0” junior guard Dylan Darling, the son of former New York Jets linebacker (2001-2002) James Darling. Last season, Darling was the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year at Idaho State. A big fish in the mid-major conference, now he found himself as a role player under the brightest of lights in one of the most consequential moments for the program in over three decades.
Darling, who had missed all four of his shots up to that point was not lacking confidence when the left-hander caught the in-bounds pass five-feet into the backcourt, drove on a straight line to the basket, and hit a right hand layup against two Kansas defenders as the buzzer sounded, with his teammates mobbing him under the basket. It advanced the East’s No. 5 seed to a meeting in Washington, D.C. tomorrow at Capital One Arena (7:10 p.m. EST tip-off) versus the East’s No. 1 seed Duke.
“To be honest, the ball left my hands and I hit the ground and I didn’t even see the ball go in,” said Darling after his shot of a lifetime. “I just heard everybody going crazy.”
St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino, who at 73 with 915 NCAA wins, has now led four different programs to the Sweet 16 in his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame career, was stone-faced immediately after Darling’s buzzer beater but emotional minutes later.
“I’m so jubilant,” he said. “So happy for the fellas … proud of our guys.”
While Darling was the hero for the 30-6 Red Storm, the win was a team effort in every sense. Senior forward Zuby Ejiofor, and Big East Player of the Year, had 18 points, nine rebounds, and four assists, while senior forward Bryce Hopkins knocked down a career-high six three-pointers, also scoring 18 and grabbing seven rebounds. Bronx native, sophomore guard Ian Jackson, was in double-figures with 10 points off the bench.
The defense of senior forward Dillon Mitchell on Kansas’ freshman guard Darryn Peterson, a projected top-three pick in June’s NBA Draft, was stellar. Peterson, who averaged 20 points per game this season, finished with 15 on 5-15 shooting.
Referring to losing to Duke in the 1992 East Regional finals when he was Kentucky’s head coach on a game-ending shot by Christian Laettner, one of the memorable shots in college basketball history, Pitino lifted up his fearless point guard.
“I have been on winning at the buzzer and losing at the buzzer, and tonight, I just can’t imagine a player, [Darling,] in today’s world, with all the scrutiny, wanting the ball when he’s shooting terribly,” he said. “For him to want the ball in that scenario just speaks volumes of what he is all about.
“So you win some, you lose some, and I’m hoping we can get Duke at the buzzer next to make up for that Christian Laettner shot.”