Storm fall after game-tying hoop gets waived off

An already disappointing season just took another turn for the worse for St. John’s on Tuesday night in a crushing 68-66 loss to Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis — after the Red Storm thought they had tied the score at the buzzer.

With eight-tenths of a second remaining and St. John’s down two, Posh Alexander, who was inbounding the ball from behind the Red Storm’s basket, threw a lob pass to Joel Soriano, who made the layup to seemingly tie the score.

But after a review, it was determined Soriano’s shot came after the buzzer, sending an irate St. John’s coach Mike Anderson into a tizzy as he argued with the officials, to no avail.

The Red Storm (14-11, 4-10 Big East) had chances to close out the game before the controversial call. They held a 66-61 lead with 3:02 remaining, but failed to score the rest of the way.

Alexander finished with 17 points and had six assists to lead the Red Storm, who have lost three straight and five of their last six games. Rafael Pinzon scored 14 and Soriano chipped in 11 for St. John’s.

Jayden Taylor led the Bulldogs (12-13, 4-10 Big East) with 19 points, while Manny Bates chipped in with 15.