Labaron Philon Jr. produced another strong performance with 25 points, as No. 15 Alabama took control late in the first half and withstood a comeback attempt by No. 5 St. John’s in an impressive 103-96 victory Saturday afternoon in New York.
Philon made 10 of 17 shots and had help from two players returning from injury. Aden Holloway added 21 points on 9-of-18 shooting after sitting out the season opener with a wrist injury, and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. finished with 17 after also missing the season opener with a finger injury.
Taylor Bol Bowen added 17, as Alabama shot 48.1 percent from the field.
Zuby Ejiofor scored 20 of his 27 points in the first half, but the Red Storm had a 12-game winning streak at MSG stopped. Bryce Hopkins added 19, while Ian Jackson and Oziyah Sellers contributed 14 apiece. The Red Storm shot 49.2 percent overall but missed 12 of their 40 free throw attempts.
Alabama surged ahead again, taking a 37-30 lead on an easy layup by Bol Bowen with 5:51 remaining, resulting in a timeout for St. John’s. After the timeout, the Red Storm scored eight straight points in 61 seconds for a 38-37 lead, but the Crimson Tide grabbed a 48-40 lead on a 3 by Philon with 1:18 left and held a 53-44 lead when Holloway buried an open three-pointer right before halftime.
After Bol Bowen scored for a 60-52 lead, Ejiofor, Jackson, and Sellers sank layups to cut the lead to 60-58 a little over three minutes into the second. Alabama took its first double-digit lead when Wrightsell sank a trey for a 69-58 lead with 15:18 left and held a 74-64 lead after Bol Bowen split a pair at the line about three minutes later.
St John’s countered with a 17-6 run while Ejiofor rested and Joson Sanon’s corner three-pointer put them up 81-80 with 8:13 left.
Alabama continued to provide answers and took a 91-87 lead on Bol Bowen’s dunk with 4:19 remaining before increasing the margin to 95-88 on two free throws by Philon with 2:32 left.
–Field Level Media
