In the paint

BY JOSEPH STASZEWSKI

For the third straight season St. John’s will get nothing close to a full season from arguably its best player. The last two years it was because of Daryll Hill’s knee. Now it is Anthony Mason Jr’s ankle. Mason reinjured the ankle when he stepped on the foot of Long Island University guard Jaytornah Wisseh while coming down from a rebound with 5:58 left in the last night’s 68-56 win. Also, lets not forget Lamont Hamilton missing last season's Big East tournament with a knee injury. St John's getting its top players hurt had been a stroke of bad luck that it's been unable to avoid the last three seasons, even though it had chances to last night.

"If D.J. [Kennedy] makes the first layup, he doesn't get hurt," coach Norm Roberts said. "If Justin [Burrell] makes the second layup, he doesn't get hurt. But this is life in college basketball. We have to deal with it."

As simple as it sounds Roberts is right. If you are St. John’s you put Mason out of your mind for now. He won’t be back anytime soon. You may not see Young Mase on the court until the Holiday Festival in late December. Mason missed three weeks and three games after the first injury. If they were cautious with him before they have to be extra cautious now.

Mason did not look particularly sharp on the injured ankle last night with just four points on 4 of 9 shooting from the field and 0-for-3 from three. St. John’s can survive its non-conference schedule without him as long as Larry Wright’s hip discomfort is nothing serious. They have plenty of depth at guard. Kennedy, Mason’s replacement, is averaging 13 points and 9.5 rebounds a game and looks like the real deal.

You know what you are going to get from Eugene Lawrence both in play and leadership, making his presence on the court that much more important. He can’t have too many more games like last night, playing limited minutes because of foul trouble. Even so, this long stretch without Mason has to be looked at as a major growing experience for the team’s freshmen. It is a chance for Paris Horne, Burrell and Kennedy to continue to shoulder the responsibility and the minutes left in Mason’s absence.

In 2005-06, when I was the managing editor of The Torch, the award-winning student newspaper of St. John’s University, the headline to the lead column of our annual Courtside basketball preview read: “Young Mase Sets Pace.”

Now it’s up to the team’s talented freshmen to continue their’s without him.

Taking the good with the bad

Here are some quick things to take from the game.

THE GOOD: St. John’s is now 4-0 and has proven it can earn the NEC’s automatic NCAA tournament bid come March.
THE CONCERN: St. John’s plays in the Big East.

THE GOOD: Justin Burrell posted his third straight double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
THE CONCERN: The next best performance out of the Red Storm front court was Dele Coker with two points and three rebounds and four fouls.

THE GOOD: Eugene Lawrence only turned the ball over twice.
THE CONCERN: Four fouls limited him to just six points and two assists. He shot just 2-of-8 from the field and 0-for-4 from three.

THE GOOD: D. J. Kennedy again was sensational. The freshman scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds and had five steals.
THE CONCERN: No complaints here.