St. John’s men’s basketball holds off Seton Hall to move onto Big East championship game
· Yahoo Sports
It wasn’t a performance that will live in future highlights packages of Friday night games in the Big East Tournament’s illustrious history, but it was enough for St. John’s to dispatch Seton Hall in a 78-68 win and advance to the conference’s championship game for a second straight year.
Zuby Ejiofor steered the ship for St. John’s again, leading the Red Storm with 20 points and five rebounds. Ejiofor joined Kemba Walker as the only two players to score twenty or more points in four straight Big East Tournament contests. His frontcourt mates supported him, too. Bryce Hopkins had 13 points (3-of-4 shooting), seven rebounds, and four assists, while Dillon Mitchell put up 13 points (6-of-10 shooting), six rebounds, and five assists.
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The Red Storm got out to a fast start for a second straight day in the Big East Tournament. Following a 9-0 start in their eventual win over Providence, the Johnnies took an early 8-0 lead off four baskets in the paint.
Right on cue after a Shaheen Holloway timeout, Seton Hall’s offense came to life, as both teams traded layups and dunks over the next several minutes. Seton Hall made eight of their next 13 shots, while St. John’s continued slashing to the hoop. The Red Storm didn’t make their first bucket outside of the lane until Joson Sanon fired a three at the 6:31 mark in the first half, and they finished the half scoring 24 of their points in the paint.
Sanon settled into a rhythm and gave his team some necessary separation. At the 4:43 mark, Sanon drilled his second three-pointer in transition to give St. John’s a 28-20 lead. One minute later, Sanon converted a four-point play when he swished a fall-away triple and made the ensuing free throw after TJ Simpkins knocked him down to build the Red Storm lead to 34-23. By night’s end, the sophomore guard finished with 15 points off the bench.
Dillon Mitchell pushed the Johnnies’ lead to its largest margin of the first half by making a layup soon after to make it 36-23. Seton Hall was able to string together baskets to close the half with St. John’s ahead, 38-30.
St. John’s took over and got out to another hot start to open a half, using an 11-0 run to extend their advantage to a 19-point gap after an Oziyah Sellers layup. The game decelerated into a stand-still following this quick outburst. The Red Storm only made two of their next nine shots, but it hardly mattered as they shut the Pirates’ water off in the four minutes following Trey Parker’s layup with 13:03 left.
Yet, it wasn’t over. Seton Hall mounted a furious 20-7 run to break the Red Storm’s stranglehold and turn this semifinal back into a game. AJ Staton-McCray finished a corner three-pointer to chop the Red Storm’s lead down to 62-56 at the 4:41 mark.
Now forced to turn off cruise control, St. John’s locked back in and executed without any trouble down the stretch. Joson Sanon and Dillon Mitchell recorded critical steals in the final three minutes, then the Red Storm shut the door with more made free throws by Hopkins and Sanon. In total, St. John’s made 24 of their 30 attempts from the charity stripe.
With the victory, St. John’s also becomes the eighth NCAA Division I men’s basketball program to win 2,000 games, joining Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, Temple, and Syracuse.
The Red Storm (27-6) look to capture their second straight Big East Tournament title on Saturday, March 14 in the Big East championship, where they will face the winner of the semifinal between second-seeded UConn and 11-seed Georgetown. Tip-off from Madison Square Garden is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game can be watched on FOX.