St. John's Is Off To Sweet 16 After Walking Off Kansas

 

Bryce Hopkins hoisted this shot early in the game. @StJohnsBball.

The St. John's Red Storm are off to the Sweet 16 after Dylan Darling scored a buzzer-beating layup to help them beat Kansas, 67-65, in their Round-of-32 matchup in the East Regional of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon.

Incredibly, this was Darling's only basket of the day, and he made the most of it to help the Red Storm stave off a furious comeback by the Jayhawks. 

The No. 5 seed St. John's will now face the top seed in the East regional, the Duke Blue Devils, on Friday night in Washington, DC.

This matchup with Kansas was 74 years in the making, as the last time these historic programs met in the NCAA Tournament was in the 1952 Championship Game, when Kansas beat St. John's, 80-63. That was the first of Kansas' four national championships.

Where St. John's dominated the early minutes of games, they dominated the end of the first half in this one.

From when the Red Storm led 25-24 at the 2:25 mark, they got back-to-back three pointers from Ruben Prey and Joson Sanon, followed by a trio of free throws from Zuby Ejiofor to key a 9-2 run.

St. John's took a 34-26 edge into halftime, and the momentum carried into the second half, when they opened up what turned into a 14-point lead, at 54-40, on a Dillon Mitchell jumper with 8:53 remaining.

Kansas then pulled to within five, at 58-53, on a Darryn Peterson three-point play with 5:19 left, and that capped an 8-0 run.

St. John's would go back up nine, at 62-53, with 4:19 left on a layup from Zuby Ejiofor.

Kansas responded with an 8-0 run to pull within one point on a Flory Bidunga tip-in, after he snatched an offensive rebound, with 1:58 left.

Bryce Hopkins then restored order when he buried a three-pointer from the side to make it 65-61 at 1:29.

Then, Kansas' Tre White missed a short running jumper, and Bidunga snatched it before it went out of bounds, getting it to White, who laid it in to make it 65-63 with 1:01 left.

Kansas, after a necessary stop, then tied it on a pair of free throws from Peterson with 13 seconds left.

St. John's had plenty of time to win it, or so one would have thought.

Kansas took full advantage of only having committed two fouls in the half to that point, and they committed three fouls before the Red Storm could get past halfcourt.

Then, suddenly, Darling was able to make a run for the hoop, outpacing Elmarko Jackson on his way down the lane, and he took it up with his right hand, and kind of flinged it up and in like a discus hurler as time expired.

As mentioned earlier, that was Darling's only basket, as he previously was 0-for-4 from the field, interestingly all three-point attempts. He also had four assists and two steals.

This will be St. John's first appearance in the Sweet 16 since 1999, when they reached the Elite Eight.

St. John's was led by Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins, who had 18 points apiece. Ejiofor added nine rebounds, four assists, a block, and a steal, while Hopkins had seven rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

Ian Jackson was the only other Red Storm player in double-figures, as he had 10 points, along with two rebounds, an assist, and a block.