Pitt gets past St. John's on Jamarius Burton's buzzer-beater

NEW YORK — Jamarius Burton’s runner with 0.4 seconds left lifted Pitt over St. John’s, 59-57, in the showcase game of the Gotham Classic on Saturday.

After St. John’s (8-3) tied the score on two Dylan Addae-Wusu free throws, Burton took the inbounds pass and stormed down the court before lifting the winning shot from the left side.

“I came down with pace, and I saw the ball screen,” Burton said. “I just found a spot. I looked at the shot clock, and I found a spot that I liked. And I just raised and elevated.”

Burton led all scorers with 20 points. Mouhamadou Gueye added 15 for Pitt (4-7).

“This was a big-time win for us,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “We’re really proud of our guys for fighting.”

Despite having three players finish in double-figure scoring, St. John’s had its three-game winning streak snapped. Addae-Wusu led the Red Storm with 12. Posh Alexander added 11 and Joel Soriano had 10 points.

St. John’s played without star swingman Julian Champagnie, who was out after testing positive for covid-19. Champagne is averaging 20.3 points and 6.7 rebounds.

“It’s a tough, tough game for us,” St. John’s coach Mike Anderson said. “It comes down to making plays at the end.”

What transpired on the Madison Square Garden court in the matinee was an ode to Big East Conference basketball. Which was fitting because St. John’s was among the conference’s founding members, and Pitt was a member from the 1982-83 season through 2012-13.

Nothing came easy for either the Red Storm or the Panthers. Seemingly every shot was contested, and seemingly everybody dove onto the court to retrieve loose balls.

Pitt took its first lead since early in the first half on Burton’s left corner 3 with 11:55 left in the second. The 45-44 lead lasted for all of 17 seconds as Soriano responded with a jump hook to allow St. John’s to regain the advantage.

After Alexander knocked down a pull-up jumper with nine minutes left in the second half, the teams combined to not score for nearly 3¹⁄₂ minutes. The drought ended with a John Hugley jump hook, which let Pitt close the gap to 50-48.

“Just not making the plays,” said Anderson, when asked why St. John’s was not able to extend leads. “That’s all.”

After Hugley’s jump hook, the Panthers outscored St. John’s, 8-5, to take a 56-55 lead. Burton’s two free throws with two minutes left gave Pitt the advantage.

Alexander had an opportunity to give St. John’s the lead, but Hugley blocked his jumper. The Panthers extended the lead to three on a Will Jeffress free throw, but Addae-Wusu’s two made free throws set the stage for Burton’s winner.

“I work on the mid-range shots a lot,” Burton said. “I had that confidence going into (the play).”

St. John’s led 34-31 at the half. The Red Storm had a 23-13 lead with 10 minutes left in the half, but Pitt ended the opening 20 minutes by outscoring St. John’s, 18-11.

With the win, Pitt improved to 25-35 in 60 meetings between the programs. Pitt has won four straight meetings, the last occurring Feb. 24, 2013.

The Gotham Classic was supposed to be a doubleheader, with No. 16 Seton Hall meeting Iona in the second game. But because of a covid-19 outbreak within the Seton Hall program, the school announced Thursday the game was canceled. The Big East announced Friday that Seton Hall’s conference opener against St. John’s was canceled. Because of the conference’s policy, because the Pirates would not have had enough players for the game, Seton Hall was assessed a forfeit and a loss, and St. John’s was credited with a win.