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| Zuby Ejiofor goes full extension down the lane to put in this layup in the first half. Photo by Jason Schott. |
St. John's scored another big victory on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, as they came back from as many as 15 points down in the second half, to beat Seton Hall, 65-60.
This was the fifth straight win for the Red Storm, who returned to the USA Today Coaches' Poll at No. 25 on Monday, and they are now 14-5 overall and 7-1 in Big East Conference play.
It was a historic one for St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino, as it was the 899th victory of his career, tying him with Indiana legend Bob Knight for fourth all-time on the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball wins list.
Seton Hall, in the midst of a nice comeback season, entered this one with an overall record of 14-4, and they showed why early, simply because they didn't let St. John's race out to a big lead, as they have done in recent games at The Garden.
The Pirates were up 9-6 in the opening few minutes when they also showed a bit of an attitude. Oziyah Sellers missed a jumper for the Red Storm at the 16:43 mark, and his teammate Zuby Ejiofor raced in for the rebound, while Elijah Fisher also grabbed onto it.
They both fought so hard for this rebound that they carried each other from under the hoop out to the center court line, earning a technical foul apiece.
Seton Hall would open up a six-point edge on multiple occasions, including at 20-14, at which point St. John's responded with a 9-2 edge to take the lead on a Dillon Mitchell fast-break layup that made it 23-22 at the 7:22 mark.
It wasn't long before the Pirates would reclaim the lead, go up as much as eight, and then take a six-point lead, 38-32, into halftime.
That momentum carried into the second half when A.J. Staton Mccray laid one in to make it 47-32 with 16:03 remaining. Yes, St. John's had yet to score in the second half, with Bryce Hopkins breaking the ice with a layup at 15:39.
St. John's then began to chip away, and over the next seven-and-a-half minutes, they pulled to within three, at 52-49, on a Mitchell layup at the 8:30 mark.
Mitchell was at it again a few minutes later, as he got a steal from Staton-McCray and made another layup to give the Red Storm a long-awaited 55-54 lead.
The Red Storm led the rest of the way, and a Hopkins free throw at 51 seconds made it 62-56 to seal the win.
From when St. John's trailed by 15, at 47-32, they outscored them 33-13 to win it.
Overall in the second half, St. John's shot just 30.3 percent from the field, but 66.7 percent from the charity stripe, making 12 of 18 free throw attempts.
Their defense stepped up big time, holding the Pirates to just 28 percent, on 7-25, shooting, including 1-7 from behind the arc after they were a superb 4-6 in the first half.
St. John's was led by Dillon Mitchell, who notched a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, as he shot 7-14 from the field, as well as notching a pair of steals and an assist.
Bryce Hopkins was the only other Red Storm player in double figures, as he scored 13 points (4-13 FG, 5-6 free throws), with eight rebounds and four assists.
Zuby Ejiofor had a nice night, with nine points (3-7 FG), six assists, and four rebounds.
Seton Hall was led by A.J. Staton McCray, who had 16 points on 7-13 from the field, including 2-5 on three-pointers, with five rebounds, two steals, and an assist.
PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "We've played better, but this is my favorite game of the season. When you're down 15 to a team like Seton Hall, and you come back from 15 down and wind up with 20 offensive rebounds, you really wanted to win this game."
On what Zuby Ejiofor means to this team: "All the players said, '(Zuby) just outworks everybody.' I said, 'Well, I've got to get 13 guys that outwork everybody like Zuby in order for us to progress at the level we want to get to."
On challenging the team with an NCAA Tournament reality check: "You're down 15. Are you going to go home in the NCAA Tournament or are you going to move on? That's the challenge we have right now."
On the struggles Seton Hall caused: "Tonight, we didn't have it because of Seton Hall. It wasn't because we weren't trying. We were trying, but they were terrific at their style of play."
On potentially collecting his 900th win against son Richard Pitino and Xavier on Saturday: "What's the chances you coach 50 years and your 900th win (could come) against your son? I think that's a big treat for me and my family."
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