Joel Soriano collected 17 points and 14 rebounds as St. John’s seized control early and recorded an 86-67 wire-to-wire victory over DePaul Wednesday night in the Big East opener for both teams in Queens, N.Y.
The Red Storm (9-1, 1-0 Big East) took control early after struggling to consistently make shots in Sunday’s ugly 71-60 loss at then-No. 23 Iowa State.
Soriano shot 5 of 8 from the field, made 7 of 8 free throws and posted his NCAA-best eighth double-double to help St. John’s score 50 points in the paint.
Andre Curbelo added 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting while Posh Alexander contributed 13, six rebounds and six assists as the duo combined for six of St. John’s’ 10 steals. David Jones, who played two seasons at DePaul before transferring to St. John’s, added 11 points and eight boards as the Red Storm shot 50.8 percent.
After erasing a 17-point deficit for its overtime win over Loyola Chicago, DePaul (5-4, 0-1) was dominated most of the way and lost for the fourth time in six games.
Zion Cruz led the Blue Demons with 14 points and Da’Sean Nelson added 13 for DePaul, which had eight scholarship players available and shot 39.1 percent. Leading scorer Javan Johnson was held to 11 points on 5 of 13 from the field after scoring 55 points in his previous two games to earn Big East Player of the Week honors.
DePaul missed its first eight shots as St. John’s opened a 12-0 lead on Soriano’s layup with 15:28 left in the first. After Johnson’s jumper made it 29-20 with 5:10 remaining, St. John’s finished off a five-on-two fastbreak with Soriano’s thunderous right-handed dunk 51 seconds later for a 35-20 lead, and the Red Storm held a 40-29 advantage by halftime.
After DePaul cut the lead to nine for the third time of the second half on Cruz’s layup with 13:35 remaining, the Red Storm outscored DePaul 32-22 the rest of the way. The Red Storm gradually pulled away and clinched the win when Curbelo hit an open 3-pointer from the right side for a 72-53 lead with 5:26 left.
–Field Level Media
