St. John's Zuby Ejiofor's basket at buzzer secures comeback victory
Zubi Ejiofor hit the buzzer-beater as St. John's won at Providence, 72-70, on Friday. Credit: St. John's Athletics
PROVIDENCE — This might be Rick Pitino’s first miracle at St. John’s.
The Red Storm went into one of their personal houses of horror — Providence’s Amica Mutual Pavilion, formerly the Dunkin’ Donuts Center — and pulled off a stunning comeback for their first win in the building since 2017.
After the Red Storm played an abysmal first half in which they trailed by as many as 16 points, they turned the page and scrapped back into the fray and even grabbed a lead.
The Friars’ Bensley Joseph made a long three-pointer to tie the score with 18.8 seconds left, but Zuby Ejiofor put back Deivon Smith’s miss at the buzzer to give St. John’s a 72-70 Big East triumph before 12,104.
“It’s good to be on the good side of a buzzer-beater,” Ejiofor said, referencing the team’s 99-98 double-overtime loss to Baylor in the Bahamas on a three-pointer at the buzzer. “[It’s good] going on the road and showing your toughness and fighting through adversity and coming back in the second half [to] take care of business.”
Ejiofor, who had 12 of his 19 points and six of his 10 rebounds in the second half, corralled Smith’s miss in the lane with only a tick left and nine feet between him and the basket. He went right back up and the shot just made it over the front of the rim.
“It felt amazing,” he said. “I’ve never made a buzzer-beater.”
It was the first time St. John’s has won on a buzzer-beater since Sir-Dominic Pointer had one against St. Joseph’s in the 2013 NIT.
The Red Storm (10-2, 2-0) shot 3-for-18 on three-pointers and missed 15 free throws but still managed to pull out the win. They turned nine offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points and shut down Providence’s outside game, allowing only a single three-pointer — the tying shot by Joseph — to turn the tide.
“When you’re on the road and you shoot the ball like that, you’re going to lose 90% of the time, you’re going to get discouraged about the missed free throws,” Pitino said. “We knew that if we let them have threes, they will win the game. So at halftime, we said, ‘You lock down the three-point line, we’ll win this game.’
“We got very uptight at the foul line, but it never bothered them,” he added. “They were disappointed. I said, ‘Don’t worry about it. Get the offensive rebound, get back in it, win the game. It’s all that counts. . . . It doesn’t matter if you’re missing shots, missing free throws. Win the game.’ ”
Asked about Pitino telling them he believed they would win, Smith replied, “He was telling us that when we were down 15. I knew we were going to win.”
Smith had 17 points and four assists for St. John’s. RJ Luis Jr. added 16 points and Kadary Richmond had 10.
Joseph scored 17 points and Long Island Lutheran grad Jayden Pierre had 16 for Providence (7-6, 1-1). Friars leading scorer Bryce Hopkins did not play because of left knee discomfort he continues to experience after ACL surgery last winter.
Smith had 10 points and four assists in the second half and played a key role in starting the comeback, recording two baskets and an assist during a 9-1 run out of the break. Jaiden Glover’s three-pointer with 12:38 left got the deficit down to 52-47.
Pitino said, “I told the guys in one timeout, ‘This is nothing. I’ve been down 30 points with 15:30 to go on the road. It’s nothing. You’re going to come back and win this game. You just be patient, take your time, one possession at a time.’ ”
Luis put back Simeon Wilcher’s three-point miss to start a three-point play that got it to 58-56. The Red Storm made a steal on the press, Ejiofor was fouled and made a pair of free throws. The junior center — who missed seven free throws overall — then drove from the wing for a layup and a 60-58 lead, the Red Storm’s first since 16-15.
Providence took a three-point lead and St. John’s answered with an 8-0 run for a 68-63 lead with 2:05 left. Joseph’s three-pointer was the Friars’ answer, set up Ejiofor’s game-winner.
“We feel that we’re turning the corner on a lot of areas . . . They’re mentally maturing,” Pitino said. “I think three weeks ago, with missing all those free throws, all those shots, we lose by 12 to 16 points. But they’re . . . getting tougher because, tonight, we didn’t have it offensively. We weren’t doing very many good things and they still found a way to win on the road in a tough environment.”
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.
