Luigi P. Carnesecca (1925-2024) Lou Carnesecca, the greatest coach in the history of St. John's University basketball and a titan of the early days of the Big East conference, died Saturday, 36 days short of his 100th birthday.
COVERAGE
With the exception of three years of military service during World War II, Carnesecca lived nearly his entire life in or around New York City. Raised on the Lower East Side and a high school graduate of St. Ann's Academy in Manhattan, he enrolled at Fordham but soon transferred to St. John's, back when the school was located in Brooklyn. He played baseball for three seasons and received his college degree in 1950.
Carnesecca's first job after college was as a high school teacher and basketball coach at St. Ann's, compiling a record of 205-34 in an era where Carnesecca and a fellow teacher and coach named Frank Rienzo were the only lay teachers at the school. In 1958, following the move of St. Ann's to Queens (where it was renamed Archbishop Molloy High School), Carnesecca was hired by St. John's as an assistant to Joe Lapchick, and succeeded the legendary coach seven years later when the university enforced Lapchick's retirement at the age of 65. The 34 year old Carnesecca made his college coaching debut at, of all places, McDonough Gymnasium, a 64-62 win over Georgetown on December 4, 1965. He coached five seasons with the Redmen with a record of 104-35 before being lured to the ABA, where he coached the New York Nets for three seasons. Carnesecca took a pay cut from $50,000 a year to make just $22,000 upon his return to St. John's, returning the Redmen to its glory days as an Division I independent and preparing it for a new conference to come. His second tour at St. John's was its most memorable: the Redmen earned 14 NCAA tournaments and an NIT championship in his 16 seasons, five Big East regular season championships, two Big East tournament championships (1983, 1986) and the 1985 Final Four. He retired in 1992 with a cumulative college record of 526-200 (.724) and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. St. John's Alumni Hall, its on-campus basketball home, was renamed in Carnesecca's honor in 2004.
Georgetown 100, Albany 68 Micah Peavy and Thomas Sorber led the Georgetown Hoyas to its most productive win of the season to date, a 100-68 walkover of SUNY-Albany before 4,277 at Capital One Arena Saturday.
POST-GAME ARTICLES
Injuries were the early stories headed into the game. Two Albany starters that averaged nearly 24 points a game were not available, leaving coach Dwayne Killings to go deeper into a bench which had not been seriously tested the way the Hoyas would. For Georgetown, fans saw a limping Julius Halaifonua enter Capital One Arena prior to the game in a walking boot, described only as a lower-body injury by the basketball office. This put additional pressure on Thomas Sorber and Drew Fielder in the paint, and both were effective against a smaller Albany lineup."I thought it was a game we could compete in without our two most competitive guys," said Albany coach Dwayne Killings in post-game comments. "DeMarr Langford Jr. and Byron Joshua were not available. I thought we had the energy early, and I thought when they punched back, we kind of unraveled and lost the spirit that we wanted to have." The first ten minutes of the first half were competitive for both teams. From an early 5-0 deficit, Georgetown scored 10 points on 4-4 shooting while the Great Danes were 0-4 with four turnovers. What Albany lacked in shooting, they made up at the line, where an 18 for 18 clinic at the line accounted for more than half its points in the opening half. Trailing 19-16 at the 10:37 mark of the first half, Georgetown made its move on the inside. A three point play from Sorber tied the score, followed by a Malik Mack three, back to back layups by Caleb Williams, and a three from Sorber, his third of the season, put GU up ten, 29-19. With 3:17 to play, Georgetown led by four,m 347-33, when a late run allowed the Hoyas to take a commanding lead into the break. The Hoyas ended the period hitting five of its final six shots , led by two threes and a layup by Micah Peavy, as the grad transfer finished with 17 points at the break and Georgetown enjoyed a 49-35 lead at the break. Albany finished the half missing its last five attempts. Much as their opponent did four days earlier, the Hoyas saw Albany lose momentum to end the first half and they never recovered after halftime. After a three pointer at the 17:51 mark, 55-40, the Great Danes missed nine of its next 11 shots to open the second half while the Hoyas connected on 13 of its next 14. Albany's lack of transition defense was noticeable and offered little hope of a comeback. "We kind of quit. Our competitive energy was not where we wanted it to be." -Albany coach Dwayne KillingsThe foul line, which had served Albany so well in the first half, failed to materialize as the Hoyas were uncontested to the rim. The Great Danes did not reach the foul line until the 11:44 mark of the second half, now down 34. Albany had 18 free throw attempts in the first half, but had just two for the first 18 minutes of the second and a total of six by the end of the half. At the midpoint of the second half Georgetown was on a historic tear: 14 of 16 to open the half versus four for 15 for Albany. It would be understandable that the Hoyas backed off the accelerator, missing five of its next seven as the Danes went seven for eight form the field to close to 90-67 with five minutes to play. Head coach Ed Cooley did not open the bench until the two minute mark, up 98-63, where Drew McKenna brought the Hoyas over the century mark fifteen seconds later, 100-63. A pair of Albany free throws closed out the final score. Five players finished in double figures for the Hoyas, led by 24 from Micah Peavy, whose matchup with 6-4 small forward Amare Marshall was a mismatch from the start. Marshall was held to one field goal in three attempts and finished with 11 points overall. "I thought Micah Peavy in particular proved himself again as a veteran," said head coach Ed Cooley in post-game remarks. "I thought he dominated the game from start to finish until we took him out with about eight minutes to play. That's what veterans do." "I feel like that's just Coach Cooley trusting me and putting the ball in my hands to make some decisions," Peavy said. "It's not just me, it's a collective and I really appreciate my teammates." This was a team effort across the board. A total of 50 of Georgetown's 100 points came from either dunks or layups, with 58 points in the paint and a dizzying 37 to 9 advantage on fast break points. A 26 assist effort was its most in a game in five seasons. If the outcome mirrored the aforementioned 2021 game versus UMBC, it should be a cautionary one. Ten days after that win, the Hoyas lost to TCU and began a fateful slide to conclude the 2021-22 season. This is the kind of game to move on and continue building, as games in November are as forgettable as that 2021 game was. Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
Mack 25 3-4 3-4 1-1 3 3 2 16
Epps 30 4-5 0-2 0-0 0 4 3 8
Peavy 30 6-8 3-6 3-3 4 8 2 24
Fielder 19 2-4 1-2 3-3 4 3 2 10
Sorber 32 5-7 1-2 1-1 13 4 1 14
Reserves:
Ca. Williams 12 4-6 0-0 1-1 3 3 0 9
McKenna 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 2
Cu. Williams 9 2-2 0-1 0-0 4 0 1 4
Montgomery 2 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 2 0
Asadallah 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0
Burks 20 4-4 1-2 0-0 2 1 1 11
Van Raaphorst 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Mulready 14 1-1 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 2
Team Rebounds 2
DNP: Fort, Moses, Halaifonua, Diouf
TOTALS 200 32-43 9-22 9-9 35 26 17 100
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