The scoring drought that helped lead to St. John’s demise

St. John’s had momentum. Another slow start seemed to be in the rearview mirror.

An eight-point deficit was now a four-point lead. There was 2:38 remaining in the first half.

Then, everything went wrong. St. John’s didn’t score again until the second half. Arkansas ripped off seven straight points.

The momentum flipped.

The 10th-seeded Razorbacks went on to knock off No. 2 St. John’s 75-66 in this NCAA Tournament second-round contest at Amica Mutual Pavilion that ended the Johnnies’ magical season too early.

“I don’t know what happened, but we ended up losing the lead again and we couldn’t really recover from that point,” Zuby Ejiofor said.

St. John’s was outscored by 17 points from that aforementioned point in the first half until there was 11:32 left in the second half. The Johnnies rallied to get within two on a few occasions but never could get over the hump.

After the loss, coach Rick Pitino made a point of thanking the three senior transfers, Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott and Deivon Smith, who spent the last year of their college careers at St. John’s.

“I’m just very appreciative of Aaron Scott. He had a bad game, but he gave me his heart and soul with a [torn ligament] in finger,” Pitino said. “I’m very appreciative of Kadary Richmond. He was a true pleasure to coach. He had a bad game tonight. [Foul trouble] took him out of the game. I’m very, very appreciative of Deivon Smith, who has been hurt and gave me everything he had. I’m very appreciative. I’m very thankful to the guys who gave me every single thing they had.”

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Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and award-winning director Spike Lee were among those in attendance on Saturday.