Sunday, February 2, 2014

St. John's 69, Seton Hall 48: Ray Floriani's Photo Essay

South Orange, NJ – The day concentrated on ‘pink.’ The cause, a most worthy one indeed. Breast cancer awareness. Extremely vital and something affecting men and women alike. Besides the awareness, insignias and pink attire, there was a women’s basketball game between visiting St. John’s and Seton Hall. After 40 minutes, there was little doubt why the Red Storm lead the Big East conference. Final: 69-­48 St. John’s.

Ever the competitor, Seton Hall coach Tony Bozzella repeatedly used the word “disgusting” to classify the Pirate performance. Looking at the stat sheet, Bozzella will not allow his club to dwell on this. Learn from it, put it behind you, and get back to practice.

St. John’s mentor Joe Tartamella was pleased. Expecting every conference game to be rigorous, Tarmatella especially lauded the five threes the Storm hit the first half while shutting out the Hall, 0-for-­12 from three on the afternoon, a significant contrast for the respective 40-minute ‘combatants.’

One of the nicer aspects of covering the women’s game is running into some known from coverage and/or officiating. Today, I touched base with Priscilla Edwards. The St. John’s assistant is, like yours truly, a St. Bonaventure alum. Edwards played and assisted there (on the 2012 Sweet Sixteen staff) before heading to St. John’s last season.

“Wow, wasn’t that UMass game something,” she said in reference to the men’s upset of the Minutemen at Reilly Center a few days ago.

Those Bonaventure ties and admiration run deep, as does the support of women’s basketball and the ‘Cause.’

Pink is in as St. John's players line up for the national anthem:
Tony Bozzella and his Seton Hall staff ponder several items during a timeout:
The youth team from Sacred Heart in Ray's Lyndhurst, New Jersey hometown greets the Hall for the second half after playing at halftime:
Eugeneia McPherson of St. John's looks for an opening. "Take what the defense gives you," preaches Red Storm head coach Joe Tartamella:
Former Shabazz High School (Newark) teammates Aliyyah Handford of St. John's and Ka-Deidre Simmons of Seton Hall share a lighter moment during a free throw:
Ray and St. John's assistant Priscilla Edwards in a meeting of St. Bonaventure grads:

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