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 date with Bryant on Wednesday night was a final chance for it to show that it is ready for conference play, which begins with next Tuesday with its Big East opener against DePaul.
The result would certainly indicate the Red Storm are ready. They played fast, had a great second half and posted an 99-77 non-conference victory at Carnesecca Arena. However much of the time, they didn’t exactly look ready for prime time.
St. John’s (8-2) didn’t have a very strong first half, was in a tie game two minutes into the second half and held only a one-point lead with 15 minutes left. And that’s when the Storm finally felt the urgency, turned up the effort on both ends and pulled away.
The Storm has really been a second-half team for much of the season. On Saturday they looked as good as they have in the second half against Kansas State, outscoring the Wildcats by 21 and outrebounding them by 11. In this one St. John’s outscored Bryant by 18 after the intermission and outrebounded the Bulldogs by 14. It also forced 11 turnovers.
RJ Luis Jr. had a great blocked shot at the rim on Jakai Robinson in between a pair of Zuby Ejiofor layups to get things rolling on a 17-2 run as the Storm finally left the Bulldogs (6-6) in the dust. Ejiofor had seven points and Luis had four points and two assists in the burst, but the highlight-reel play was 6-foot Deivon Smith going up for tip dunk of Simeon Wilcher’s miss.
Smith would have another SportCenter worthy tap dunk on an Aaron Scott’s missed three-pointer with 3:48 after the game had gotten out of hand.
Ejiofor had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Scott had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Luis had 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting and Wilcher and Smith had 14 points apiece for St. John’s.
Keyshawn Mitchell had 21 points to lead Bryant. St. John’s transfer Rafael Pinzon, who starred at Long Island Lutheran, had nine points for the Bulldogs.
It hasn’t happened in every game but it has become a bit of a disturbing trend that St. John’s hasn’t played well on the defensive end in the first half of games. So it was again against Bryant on Wednesday. The Storm allowed the Bulldogs to shoot 47% from the floor and only held a 45-41 lead at halftime.
There were a couple spots where it looked like the Red Storm would create some distance, First when Deivon Smith came off the bench and gave them a spark and later when Wilcher and Luis got hot.
Coach Rick Pitino went with a starting line up of Wilcher, Ejiofor, Kadary Richmond, Scott and Luis. Smith came off the bench 4:41 into the game. He made a steal and took it for a layup and then made a three-pointer on the next Storm possession for a an 18-12 lead. But Smith would be limited to just six minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls.
Bryant grabbed a 22-21 lead on a Mitchell three-pointer with 9:47 and Pitino called a timeout. Wilcher made a three-pointer to get the lead back on the first possession after it. He made another three-pointer off a nice feed from Luis and then Luis had a jumper in the lane and a pair of free throws on the next two Storm possessions. It gave them their biggest lead of the half, 35-27 with 6:32 left.
But St. John’s didn’t pull away. Bryant was within 43-41 on two Mitchell free throws in the final minute, but the Storm got them back on two Ejiofor free throws on the ensuing possession.
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.
