St. John’s broke their eleven game losing streak in miraculous fashion by upsetting the #4 ranked Duke Blue Devils in front of a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden. The two historic programs honored the late Howard Garfinkel in an inaugural game known as “The Garf.” The famed Five-Star Basketball Camp founder would have appreciated the great display of talent and competitiveness displayed between the two teams on Saturday afternoon.

Point guard Shamorie Ponds led St. John’s to an 81-77 victory after scoring 33 points in addition to 7 rebounds and 4 steals. St. John’s outscored Duke by 11 in the second half. After trailing 39-32 at the end of the first half, the Red Storm went on a 12-2 run in the opening minutes of the 2nd half and took a 44-41 lead with about 17 minutes to go.

Duke would sleep walk through the rest of the second half as St. John’s built an 11 point lead with 11:55 minutes left, however, in the final minutes, Duke went on a 9-2 run to make it a one possession game in the final minute. Time became a factor and Duke was not able to complete the last minute comeback as senior Grayson Allen missed two game tying threes as precious seconds ticked away. Allen struggled shooting the ball, collecting just 7 points and making only one field goal all game.

Duke struggled to take care of the ball, turning it over EIGHTEEN times. Star freshmen Wendell Carter and Marvin Bagley III had 19 and 14 points respectively. Duke guard Gary Trent played all 40 minutes, scoring 22 points while shooting 5-7 from behind the arc.

St. John’s has failed to win a single game in the Big East this year, but finds themselves taking down #4 DUKE(!) to begin the month of February.