NEW YORK — RJ Luis Jr scored 27 of his 29 points in the second half as top-seeded St. John’s pulled away for an 82-66 victory over second-seeded Creighton on Saturday night to secure its first Big East conference tournament championship since 2000.
The Red Storm (30-4), ranked No. 6 in the nation, won their ninth straight game by overcoming an early eight-point deficit a day after rallying from a 15-point deficit to beat Marquette in the semifinals.
“Great win for the city, great win for our university,” said Rick Pitino, in his second season as the St. John’s coach. “You hear it all along that this is New York’s team and it truly is. As a New Yorker myself, I’m very, very proud that St. John’s has gotten to this level. So we’re all excited. We’re all thrilled.”
Selected the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, Luis was 1 of 5 in the first half before making 10 of 13 shots as St. John’s dominated the second half. The Red Storm made 14 straight shots to turn a 41-38 deficit with 12:53 left into a 70-55 bulge with 5:16 remaining.
“This has been by far like the most emotional, happiest week of my 22 years of existence. This is great,” said Luis, a junior. “It’s truly special. I’m at a loss for words. I’m truly blessed and very happy to bring this championship back to New York City.”
Luis scored 12 points during the decisive barrage, which started when Zuby Ejiofor hit a jumper and completed a 3-point play to forge a 41-41 tie. The Red Storm never trailed after Deivon Smith’s tough jumper in the lane countered a Steven Ashworth 3 and put the Red Storm up 45-44 with 11:07 left.
Luis took over from there, hitting two 3s and three layups in the Red Storm’s dominating 25-11 blitz.
“They’ve had a remarkable year,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said of St. John’s. “Dominated our league and pretty much saved their best for this conference tournament. They just wear into you over time.”
Pitino, 72, is the first coach to win the Big East tournament at two schools (Louisville in 2009, 2012 and 2013). He’s also the first coach to guide six universities to the NCAA Tournament, as Saturday’s win grabbed the conference’s automatic bid — though St. John’s already was a lock to make it.
“We had three phases,” Pitino said. “Phase one was to win the regular-season Big East championship. Phase two gets very difficult because you can’t embrace what you’re accomplishing. You just have to keep getting better. We accomplished that. Phase three was to make the (NCAA) Tournament, go as far as we could possibly go.”
Ejiofor followed up his career-high 33-point showing against Marquette by contributing 13 of his 20 in the second half. Kadary Richmond contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds as the Red Storm shot 71.9 percent in a 57-point second half and 52.3 percent overall.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 15 on 7-of-10 shooting for the Bluejays (24-10), who lost their fifth title game in five tries since joining the Big East from the Missouri Valley in the 2013-14 season. Jackson McAndrew added 14 while Ashworth and Jamiya Neal contributed 13 apiece as Creighton shot 43.3 percent and misfired on 20 of 26 3-point attempts.
“It’s a really tough environment to play in,” Kalkbrenner said of Madison Square Garden. “They got hot, and like (McAndrew) said, our focus in the second half wasn’t as good on defense, so it was harder for us to kind of keep them from getting what they wanted. Obviously, they scored 57 points.”
The Blue Jays made seven of their first eight shots and opened a 17-9 lead on a basket by McAndrew with 13:22 remaining. Creighton made four of its final 22 shots and St. John’s sliced the deficit to 28-25 by halftime.
“I would have guessed at halftime that 66 points might be enough to win the game, the way both teams were defending,” McDermott said, “but they made some shots the second half and then we made some mistakes, and we made those mistakes.”
Luis hit a corner 3 to forge a 38-38 tie with 14:26 left, and Ejiofor completed a 3-point play nearly two minutes later for a 41-41 deadlock. After St. John’s took its first lead, Ashworth hit a 3 over Vincent Iwuchukwu with 11 1/2 minutes left. St. John’s Smith hit a jumper in the lane, and Richmond made a strong move to the rim for a 47-44 lead a little over a minute later.
After Neal dunked to get Creighton within 49-48, Luis converted a crafty layup off a bounce pass from Smith for a 58-50 lead with about 7 1/2 minutes left.
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
