NEW YORK _ And now St. John's is on a losing streak.
The 24th-ranked Red Storm got dealt a bad blow before it got on the court to face DePaul on Saturday. Star guard Shamorie Ponds was diagnosed with a lower back strain and sidelined for the game. Then the contest started and the Blue Demons exploited their height advantage _ four starters are 6-foot-6 or taller _ backing down undersized St. John's on to the low block for a pile of layups in what became DePaul's 79-71 Big East win before a sellout crowd of 5,602 at Carnesecca Arena.
Ponds, who sat on the bench in street clothes, is 'day-to-day' according to coach Chris Mullin and he gave no indication if the team's leading scorer will return for Wednesday's game against Creighton.
"Obviously he's a great, great player," Mullin said. "You have to approach things a little differently. Any time you take your best player off the team it has an effect."
Mullin clearly was upset about the officiating. The Red Storm (14-3, 2-3) got called for 21 fouls to the Blue Demon's nine and DePaul (10-5, 2-2) took 28 free throws compared with six by St. John's. He was already fuming when the Blue Demons got into the bonus just five minutes into the second half and he got whistled for a technical foul with 5:04 to play.
"It's part of any competition _ you hold your ground," Mullin said. "Then when we got into the (double bonus) with 15 minutes left, it takes some aggression away. We'll do a much better job from here on out of holding our ground. If that's illegal, so be it.
"Look at the stat sheet. Everything is similar except one thing."
LJ Figueroa had 23 points, Justin Simon had 20 points and seven assists, and Marvin Clark II had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Red Storm, but they did not shoot well on the perimeter, going 5-for-19 on 3-point shots.
Femi Olujobi (Brentwood) had 27 points and Paul Reed had 18 points and 10 rebounds for DePaul, which had 14 offensive rebounds that it turned into six baskets and which converted 11 turnovers into 17 points.
St. John's was trying to bounce back from Tuesday's loss at Villanova but ended up getting pinned with its first home loss of the season. It also is the first time the Storm has dropped two in a row.
"We were ready to play. We felt good going in," Clark said. "On the defensive end we just got (pounded) in the post. We gave them too many extra possessions. You can't win games that way."
He added he was confident St. John's would be able to bounce back because "We have a lot of guys who know how to handle adversity."
During the first half the Red Storm really struggled to adjust without Ponds. The junior guard averages 34.2 minutes and 38.5 minutes in Big East contests. He also has the ball in his hands a lot and for stretches in the first half, St. John's seemed to lack direction. However, a late run allowed the Storm to cut their deficit to 31-30 at halftime.
In the middle of the second half, Reed had six straight points in the middle of a 13-4 run that put the Blue Demons up 52-41 with about 11 minutes left. Clark sank a 3-pointer and a one-hander in the lane on consecutive possessions to get St. John's within 58-54 with 7:27 to play.
But with DePaul marching to the free-throw line 23 times in the second half, the Red Storm was never able to catch up.
"I just thought our post defense wasn't good tonight," Simon said. "They got whatever looks they wanted down there."
