Kadary Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor scored 18 points apiece as No. 10 St. John’s took control late in the first half and pulled away for an 89-75 victory over UConn on Sunday afternoon in New York.
The Red Storm (24-4, 15-2) improved to 17-0 at home and completed their first season sweep of UConn since the 1999-2000 season, when they last won the Big East tournament and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies (18-9, 10-6) fell to 6-6 over their past 12 games and were unable to erase a double-digit deficit for the second straight game after storming back to beat Villanova on Tuesday.
Richmond made 6 of 13 shots and scored 11 points in the final 20 minutes. Ejiofor, who scored 10 after halftime, collected nine rebounds and six assists while also hitting eight free throws.
RJ Luis Jr. contributed 14 after sitting out Wednesday’s blowout win at DePaul with a groin injury. Aaron Scott chipped in 13 and Deivon Smith finished with 12 as the Red Storm shot 46.9 percent and made 8 of 19 3-pointers while leading for the final 29:45.
Alex Karaban led the Huskies with 17 points, while Tarris Reed Jr. and Solo Ball added 15 apiece. Liam McNeeley contributed 14 but shot 2-of-13 and the Huskies shot 39 percent and committed 18 turnovers.
The Red Storm began surging ahead when Scott, Lefteris Liotopoulos and Smith hit 3s as the Red Storm ripped off 11 straight points as part of a 16-2 run to expand the lead to 35-22 with 5:50 left in the first half.
Luis missed six of his first seven shots before hitting a 3 to extend the lead to 38-26 with 4:23 left. Following a flagrant foul by Johnson, Ejiofor hit two free throws, and Scott drained a corner 3 in front of the UConn bench for a 43-26 edge.
In an indication of UConn’s struggles, the Huskies came away empty-handed in the final seconds following five offensive rebounds and the Red Storm held a 50-32 lead by halftime.
The Red Storm opened a 22-point lead in the initial minutes of the second half but the Huskies roared back and Karaban’s corner 3 sliced the deficit to 62-53 with 12:36 remaining.
After UConn’s comeback try, Richmond answered with back-to-back jumpers, and Ejiofor converted a putback dunk to make it 68-55 with about 10 minutes left. The Red Storm kept surging ahead and a putback by Ejiofor upped the lead to 80-61 with 4:44 left to essentially finish it off.
–Field Level Media
