St. John's finally gets going in second half to defeat Bryant
St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor dunks against the Bryant in the second half of a non-conference men’s basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
St. John’s got its final tune-up for the start of Big East play on Wednesday with a non-conference game against Bryant. And certainly there were things in it that might suggest the Red Storm needs refining, but coach Rick Pitino would shrug off all of them.
“I think we’re more than ready,” Pitino said. “I think we’re playing really good offensive basketball. We’re sharing the ball, a lot of assists, moving the ball.”
There’s no disputing that the result suggests readiness. St. John’s raced away from a close game in the final 15 minutes for a 99-77 win over the Bulldogs before 4,573 at Carnesecca Arena and five players scored in double figures.
And Deivon Smith finally emerged as a potential difference-maker by coming off the bench to speed the game up and score 14 points in his 18 minutes, including a pair of highlight-reel dunks on missed shots just coming off the rim.
The Red Storm (8-2), who host DePaul in their Big East opener next Tuesday, let an eight-point first-half lead slip away into a tie game early in the second half and were leading by only one point with less than 15 minutes to play. That’s where Zuby Ejiofor and RJ Luis Jr. ignited a 17-2 run as the Storm broke away.
“Basketball is a game of runs, and as long as you have the run to win the game — like we did — that’s a good thing,” Pitino said.
“There’s a lot of things that we did wrong, but there’s also a lot of things that we did right,” said Ejiofor, who had a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds in a high-effort performance. “We’re going to figure out what we need to fix to get ready for conference play.”
Pitino has said that St. John’s is a good basketball team and he was also complimentary of its self-confidence. His point was that the players never got tight in the second half when it was still close and turned the passion up to pull it out.
In the second half of Saturday’s win over Kansas State, St. John’s outscored the Wildcats by 21 and outrebounded them by 10. On Wednesday, it outscored Bryant by 18 and outrebounded it by 14. But Pitino does not subscribe to the idea that St. John’s is a second-half team.
“When you play a good team — unless you have my ’96 Kentucky team — they’re going to make comebacks and then we’re going to make comebacks,” Pitino said.
Aaron Scott had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Luis had 17 points and three assists and Simeon Wilcher had 14 points for the Storm. Outside of Ejiofor’s performance, Smith is the one who really stood out, looking like he put the disciplinary issue for his conduct in the Nov. 24 loss to Georgia behind him.
He only played six minutes in the first half because of foul trouble but stood out during his 10 minutes in the second.
St. John’s deciding run was sparked by an impressive Luis block at the rim on Jakai Robinson sandwiched around a pair of Ejiofor layups. Ejiofor had nine points in the run and Luis four and two assists. But right in the middle of it Smith had his first incredible dunk, slamming home a Wilcher miss as it came off the rim. The run ended with a Scott basket to make it 71-55 with 10:43 left.
Scott missed a three-pointer with just under four minutes left that came off the rim in a high arc. The 6-foot Smith went up for it and put in a one-handed slam that brought the crowd to its feet.
“The whole crowd was into it,” Ejiofor said. “Our whole bench was into it as well. It was just a fantastic play.”
“I’ve seen a lot of great plays in my time. What he did on that follow-up is not to be believed,” Pitino said. “I don’t know any player I’ve ever coached that could get up that high. I was speechless when I saw that. And then he had the other dunk. He can do some amazing things, but he gave us a big lift, because he picks up the pace and got everybody going.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.