David Jones scored 16 points as St. John’s led most of the way and recorded a 73-68 victory over No. 20 Providence Saturday afternoon in New York.
With Mike Krzyzewski in the stands for his first Division I game since retiring from Duke last spring, the Red Storm (15-11, 5-10 Big East) earned their second win over a ranked team. The Red Storm also won at UConn last month.
After missing two games due to the death of his father, Jones shot 6 of 17 and did enough to keep the Red Storm from blowing a 16-point lead midway through the first half.
AJ Storr added 15 points and Dylan Addae-Wusu contributed 13 for the Red Storm, who shot 44.3 percent and survived missing 14 of 18 3-point tries. Joel Soriano posted his 20th double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds while Posh Alexander added 10 points and nine assists.
Providence (18-7, 10-4) missed a chance to keep pace with first-place Xavier, which lost to Butler on Friday.
Bryce Hopkins scored 29 points on 10-of-20 shooting to go along with nine rebounds, but the Friars shot a season-worst 33.3 percent from the field. Devin Carter added 12 points, but Jared Bynum and Ed Croswell were held to nine apiece.
After Jones hit a jumper, Drissa Traore’s dunk opened a 25-9 lead with 10:32 remaining in the first half. Storr’s three-point play opened a 30-16 lead with 7:06 left and Providence outscored the Red Storm 19-7 the rest of the half and got within 37-35 by halftime after Carter missed a trey at the horn.
A dunk by Soriano and a basket by Storr gave St. John’s a 62-52 lead with 7:39 remaining. The Red Storm went without a basket for nearly five minutes until a layup by Addae-Wusu made it 66-57.
Providence was within 69-63 when Hopkins stole Addae-Wusu’s inbounds pass and coasted in for a layup with 59 seconds left. After Alexander split a pair of free throws, Soriano blocked Hopkins at the rim with 47 seconds left to seal it.
–Field Level Media
