St. John's beats Creighton to retain hold on first place in Big East

Madison Square Garden was awash in red.

A near-deafening cacophony that started before the opening tap and seemed as if it would never end filled the arena. It rolled from the ceiling to the court, from both sides of the building and back again.

This was a happening. An event.

Two nationally ranked teams. First place in the Big East on the line, and the sellout crowd of 19,812 in attendance on Sunday treated it as such.

And as he stalked the sideline over the course of 2 hours and 19 minutes, St. John's coach Rick Pitino had a revelation:

His team is a draw.

“The only thing I’m really surprised at is the fan base is back at the Garden,” Pitino said after No. 9 St. John’s outlasted No. 24 Creighton, 79-73. “These are now Knick crowds. And I think like last year’s Knick team — the toughness, New York strong — we’re doing what they did last year, and that’s why [the crowds] are coming out.”

What the fans are witnessing is a St. John’s team that could win the program’s first Big East regular-season title since 1992 and sixth overall. The Red Storm (22-4, 13-2) have a two-game lead over Creighton (18-8, 11-4)  with five games to play.

“We’re just happy to have the opportunity to bring a championship here,” said Zuby Ejiofor (18 points, nine rebounds, five assists).

Should that come to pass, there will have been many contributors. That includes guard Deivon Smith, who played 25:55 two days after Pitino said he  was suffering from  a bruised shoulder and a pinched nerve in his neck and would not dress. Instead, he had eight points, three assists and two rebounds.

“One of the biggest shocks of the year for me,” Pitino said. “Without him, we don’t win the game.”

That would have been a distasteful replay of the teams' previous meeting, when St. John’s lost  to Creighton, 57-56, in Nebraska  on New Year's Eve.

Creighton point guard Steven Ashworth (23 points) sank two free throws to cut St. John's lead to 68-64.  Then RJ Luis Jr. (23 points, 14 rebounds) went 6-for-6 from the line in the final 1:59,  Kadary Richmond (19 points, 10 rebounds, four steals) hit two free throws and Simeon Wilcher made one as the Red Storm  — who entered the day converting 68.7% of their free throws and went 17-for-29 (58.6%) on Sunday — went 9-for-10 to put the game away. 

“Every single night this team wins,” Pitino said. “It’s an amazing thing.”

Much like the first game, the rematch was a clash of styles: St. John’s chaotic defensive pressure against Creighton’s deliberate attack.

Creighton suffered a blow when 7-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who entered the game averaging 19.0 points and 8.5 rebounds, got tangled up with Luis and suffered a right foot injury with 9:45 remaining and St. John's ahead 56-53. He had to be assisted to the locker room but returned with 3:47 to play and the Red Storm ahead 66-62. He finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.

St. John's limited Kalkbrenner to five points and five rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.  Jamiya Neal (12 of his 19 points), Ashworth (nine), and Jasen Green (eight of his 10) carried Creighton in the first half, which ended with St. John's ahead 40-39.

St. John’s outscored Creighton 18-14 in the first 10 minutes of the second half to extend its lead to 58-53, with  Ejiofor and Richmond totaling 14  points in the stretch. The lead could have been even larger as Creighton missed 11 shots in a row in a span of 4 minutes, 43 seconds.

“The coaching staff did a great job of preparing us for this game, just letting us know all the little things and what exactly it takes to pull out a win like this,” Richmond said. “Everybody was pretty locked in, especially on the defensive end, and just doing whatever it takes to get the win.”