Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond combined to score 10 unanswered points during a decisive second-half run on Sunday afternoon as No. 9 St. John’s extended its lead in the Big East standings with a 79-73 win over No. 24 Creighton in New York.
RJ Luis Jr. posted a double-double with 23 points and a career-high-tying 14 rebounds for St. John’s (22-4, 13-2 Big East), which moved two games ahead of Creighton (18-8, 11-4) in the conference while avenging a 57-56 loss to the Bluejays on Dec. 31.
Richmond (19 points, 10 rebounds) also recorded a double-double while Ejiofor (18 points, nine rebounds) fell one board shy of doing so for the Red Storm, who won despite shooting just 33.3 percent from 3-point land (6 of 18) and 58.6 percent from the free-throw line (17 of 29).
Steven Ashworth had 23 points and 11 assists for Creighton, which led by 10 points in the first half but shot just 35.3 percent overall (12 of 34) in the second, where the Bluejays missed 11 straight shots during a scoring drought that lasted nearly seven minutes.
Ryan Kalkbrenner had 12 points and nine rebounds while surviving an injury scare. The fifth-year senior hurt his right foot while being fouled by Luis when the two fell to the floor pursuing a rebound with 9:45 left in the game. He was helped off the court by two teammates but returned to play the final 3:47.
Jamiya Neal had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Bluejays, while Jasen Green added 10 points.
Creighton opened the contest on a 14-4 run before St. John’s responded with a 20-9 stretch. The Red Storm led 40-39 at the half, and the Bluejays scored 14 of the first 22 points of the second half before going cold.
Ejiofor’s layup with 11:50 remaining put St. John’s ahead for good. The Bluejays got within one or two points twice in a 57-second span, the last time at 61-59 on a tip-in by Green with 6:37 left.
Richmond and Luis missed baskets on the Red Storm’s next trip and Ashworth missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 6:07 left. St. John’s guard/forward Aaron Scott drained a second-chance 3-pointer with 5:44 left, and the Red Storm led by at least four points the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media
