St. John's Crushes Creighton

 

Oziyah Sellers putting up a jumper. @StJohnsBball.

The St. John's Red Storm got back on track on the road this week, as they followed up a solid win at Xavier on Tuesday with a superb performance in Omaha on Saturday afternoon when they crushed Creighton, 90-73.

St. John's is now 11-5 overall and 4-1 in Big East Conference play.

The Red Storm were led by Lefteris Liotopoulos, who had 17 points off the bench, as he shot 6-10 overall, and was 5-8 from behind the arc, with four rebounds and two assists.

Lefty was one of five St. John's players in double figures, as Oziyah Sellers had 16 points, and Bryce Hopkins, Zuby Ejiofor, and Ian Jackson each had 12 points apiece.

Sellers' 16 points came on 6-11 shooting, with 2-4 on threes, and six rebounds and five assists. 

Dillon Mitchell nearly had a double-double, as he had eight points and nine rebounds in 18:43 of action, as well as three assists.

This game looked like it was going to be a tight battle early on, as it tied at 25 at the 8:31 mark of the first half.

Hopkins then got a basket after he snagged an offensive rebound, and that began a 10-0 run capped by a Liotopoulos three-pointer at the 5:53 mark.

After Creighton got a couple of free throws from Isaac Traudt, St. John's reeled off an 8-0 run, also capped by a Liotopoulos three, and that made it 43-27 St. John's with 3:24 left in the opening half.

St. John's would take a 52-34 lead into halftime after a 27-9 flourish to finish up the first, one in which they shot 54.9 percent, or 19-35 from the field, and 63.6 percent, or 7-11, from behind the arc.

The second half was more of the same, as they led by around 20 most of the way, and opened up a 26-point edge, at 82-56, on a Liotopoulos three with 5:43 remaining.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "(Liotopoulos) knows how much confidence I have in him and he's playing great right now. Dylan (Darling) didn't play a minute (against Butler) and in today's generation the chance of a player sulking are pretty high. Instead, he came to my office and said, 'I didn't deserve to play the way I've been playing.' I told him he had to get back to being a junkyard dog and he did it tonight. It just shows you the attitude and character we've put together on this basketball team. These two guys are indicative of what a team is all about, and I'm real proud of him."

On the team's response after losing to Providence last Saturday: "There was no panic with us. I told them I'm not unhappy with one person on this basketball team. You're great guys, you practice hard, you play hard. You made some bad plays defensively down the stretch and it cost us the game, so we learn and move on. I never wavered on that one bit."

On the team's belief to win on the road: "When you've got great guys that work hard with a great attitude, never sulk, never complain, I never wavered. I told them if you can win on the road, that tells you who you are."