St. John's Ends Regular Season In Style

 

Zuby Ejiofor reaching above the defender for this jumper in the first half. @StJohnsBball.

The St. John's Red Storm closed out one of the best regular seasons in their history with an overtime win at Marquette, 86-84, on Saturday afternoon.

This gives St. John's a final record of 18-2 in the Big East Conference, which they clinched last Saturday, and an overall record of 27-4.

The 27 regular season wins matches a St. John’s program record from the 1985-86 season, and the 18 Big East wins ties the record set by UConn last season.

St. John’s will enter the Big East Tournament, which commences Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, as the top seed for the first time since the 1985-86 season. They will have a bye, so will tip off in the quarterfinals on Thursday at high noon against the winner of the first round matchup between Providence and Butler (Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.).

It's interesting to think that St. John's, ranked No. 6 in the country, wins the conference tournament, they would have 30 wins entering the NCAA Tournament.

This game mirrored a lot of games St. John's played all season, as they trailed for vast stretches of the first half - by as many as eight points, 23-15, at the 8:26 mark - yet held a 36-35 lead at halftime.

Then, in the second half, the Red Storm led throughout and held a six-point lead, 68-62, with 6:18 left on a Vince Iwachukwu layup.

Marquette responded with a 9-1 run and took a 71-69 lead on a Kam Jones layup at the 3:40 mark.

St. John's took the lead back, at 73-71, on a Kadary Richmond tip-in, after he snatched an offensive rebound, with 2:13 left.

Marquette took the lead back, and were ahead 75-73 with 20 seconds left. Like many times this year, it was RJ Luis Jr. who took it to the hoop for a layup to tie it and send this one to overtime.

In the extra session, St. John's opened up an early four-point edge, 81-77, on a Luis Jr. tip-in after an offensive rebound with 2:46 left.

Fittingly, Marquette tied it with a Jones layup with 26 seconds left.

St. John's had the ball with the shot clock turned off, and it was Luis Jr. who took a three-point chance with seven seconds left, but it rimmed out.

Chase Ross appeared to grab it, but it was swiped out of his hands by Kadary Richmond, and it then got to Simeon Wilcher, who found Zuby Ejiofor.

Set up in the center of the key, Enjiofor rose up, and as if time froze, floated one up that went right through the net to clinch the win. 

It was reminiscent of the shot Ejiofor hit to win their game at Providence on December 20, one of the wins that catapulted their run to the Big East crown.

That capped off a double-double for Ejiofor, who had 17 points on 5-9 from the field and 1-2 from behind the arc, with 12 rebounds - seven of which were on the offensive end - one assist and one steal.

RJ Luis Jr. led St. John's with 28 points (10-19 FG, 3-7 three-pointers), with 11 rebounds, six offensive, for a double-double.

Simeon Wilcher had 13 points (6-12 FG, 1-4 threes), three assists, and two rebounds. 

Kadary Richmond had a triple-double with 10 points (5-13 FG), 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, along with four steals. He is the first St. John’s player to have a triple-double since Ron Artest on January 9, 1999.

Lefteris Liotopoulos and Aaron Scott had six points apiece off the bench.

Marquette was led by Kam Jones, who had 32 points on 14-30 from the field, including 4-13 from behind the arc, with nine rebounds, seven assists, tow blocks, and a steal. David Joplin had 21 points (7-9 FG, 3-4 threes), six rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: “Not a whole lot to say, except wow. The resilience to play in front of a sold-out road game and to just never, never give up in regulation, overtime. Just keep digging in, keep digging in, making play after play. The last play of the game when Kadary [Richmond] tips it, Simeon [Wilcher] makes the steal and the pass, indicative of the way the game was played. We had a very difficult time switching onto Kam Jones and guarding his left hand. Outside of that, we played the terrific, pretty game, as we always do and it's a heck of a win, probably my favorite win of the season by far.” 

​​On the mentality entering today’s game: “I said, ‘This is your one and done. You lose this game. The season's over.’ That's the way you got to play it to prepare for March Madness. You don't just show up in March and say, ‘Okay, this is what we're going to do.’ You prepare for it now. You prepare for it at the BIG EAST Tournament. And they did a fabulous job. Just a tough team.”

 

On the team’s performance today: “I love our willingness to shoot the shot with the game on the line. I love that. Both the regulation as well as overtime. We made some really good plays. Really pleased with what they did in overtime. Just a great game, great performance by our team in so many areas.”

 

On what this team has accomplished this season: “The only thing I pay attention to is the next practice and the next game. I'm very grateful for the type of team I have, but maybe sometime in June or July, I'll just be on the beach and be very thankful for the season. Right now, I’m just laser-focused on the next Big East game, the next practice. I'm not patting myself on the back.”

 

On if his team is playing well heading into the tournament: “I think we made big plays down the stretch. I did not like the last two games. I liked what I saw today. A lot of teams could have folded many times tonight, and this team didn't fold at all. So, very impressed with the grit and their toughness. Very impressed.”

 

On Simeon Wilcher and Lefters Liotopoulos’ play: “I thought Simeon was great tonight. He did give up the left hand too much, defensively, but he was just trying to stay out of foul trouble because he knew we couldn't afford foul trouble. I thought Lefteris did some really good things in the game as well. This is a great win. Just a fabulous win. I could not be more happy.”