PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The script just doesn’t change. Not over the last month.
Time and again, St. John’s has led a quality opponent at halftime.
And on each occasion, it gets manhandled over the final 20 minutes.
It happened against No. 1 Connecticut and twice against No. 4 Marquette, and history repeated itself again Tuesday night.
A five-point lead vanished quickly. The defense was nowhere to be found.
The offense couldn’t execute and settled for ill-advised shots.
And, as a result, the Johnnies’ NCAA Tournament at-large hopes feel all but over barring a huge winning streak to end the season.
Providence owned the final 20 minutes like so many of St. John’s opponents have, and went on to a 75-72 victory, sending the skidding Johnnies to their seventh loss in nine games.
Rick Pitino shook up his starting lineup, replacing struggling center Joel Soriano with Zuby Ejiofor.
While Ejiofor had some bright moments, he dealt with foul trouble and Soriano’s problems didn’t improve.
He managed just nine points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 3:29 left, and was soundly outplayed by Providence’s Josh Oduro (28 points).
The Friars shot 54 percent from the field after halftime, and St. Johns only could muster 34 points, similar to Saturday’s loss at Marquette.
The backcourt of Daniss Jenkins and Jordan Dingle combined to score 21 on 8-of-24 shooting and St. John’s went 0-for-9 from 3-point range after halftime.
RJ Luis had 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead St. John’s (14-11, 6-8).
The Johnnies, down seven late, got even on a Jenkins jumper with 1:45 left.
But they let Corey Floyd Jr. on the other end after he beat the press and Oduro pushed the lead to four with 41.5 seconds left.
The first half was St. John’s turbulent season in a nutshell.
Moments of promise and disappointment in one. It didn’t come out ready to play, digging itself an early 13-point hole.
Providence made six of its first nine 3-point shots, many of them wide open.
It looked like the Johnnies were going to get run out of the building.
Then Sean Conway, of all players, kept them in the game. Soon, others joined him.
St. John’s put together runs of 12-0 and 23-5 and went into the break up five after Dingle’s 3-pointer beat the buzzer.
Averaging 1.9 points on the season, Conway scored 11. Dingle added eight.
Most importantly, St. John’s defense woke up, limiting Providence to five points over the final 9:42 of the half.
The momentum was short-lived, as has so often been the case over the last month. Providence quickly retook the lead with a 10-2 run, with Oduro scoring eight points in the spurt.
The Friars pushed the lead to six after a Devin Carter drive and had outscored St. John’s by 11 at that point in the second half.