St. John’s had momentum. Another slow start seemed to be in the rearview mirror.

An eight-point deficit was now a four-point lead. There was 2:38 remaining in the first half.

Then, everything went wrong. St. John’s didn’t score again until the second half. Arkansas ripped off seven straight points.

The momentum flipped.

Arkansas, the 10th seed, caused an upset by defeating 2nd seed St. John’s 75-66 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament held at Amica Mutual Pavilion. The victory ended St. John’s impressive season prematurely.

“I don’t know what happened, but we ended up losing the lead again and we couldn’t really recover from that point,” Zuby Ejiofor said.

St. John’s experienced a significant deficit of 17 points from the first half until there was 11:32 remaining in the second half. Despite attempting a comeback and narrowing the gap to two points on a few occasions, they were unable to surpass Arkansas.

Following the defeat, coach Rick Pitino took the opportunity to express his gratitude towards the three senior transfers: Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott, and Deivon Smith, who chose to conclude their college careers at St. John’s.

“I’m just very appreciative of Aaron Scott. He had a bad game, but he gave me his heart and soul with a [torn ligament] in finger,” Pitino said. “I’m very appreciative of Kadary Richmond. He was a true pleasure to coach. He had a bad game tonight. [Foul trouble] took him out of the game. I’m very, very appreciative of Deivon Smith, who has been hurt and gave me everything he had. I’m very appreciative. I’m very thankful to the guys who gave me every single thing they had.”

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Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and award-winning director Spike Lee were among those in attendance on Saturday.