Late Rally Pushes Arizona State Past St. John’s, 80-67

Saturday, November 23

Uncasville, Conn. (Mohegan Sun Arena)

2:30 p.m.

St. John's University

4-2

Arizona State

3-1

Arizona St.

St. John's

Late Rally Pushes Arizona State Past St. John’s, 80-67

11/23/2019 6:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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LJ Figueroa scored a team-high 17 points in the Red Storm’s first contest in the Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Behind 17 second-half points from Remy Martin, Arizona State erased a nine-point halftime deficit and downed St. John's, 80-67, in the semifinals of the Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Mohegan Sun.

St. John's (4-2) will play UMass (5-1) in the tournament's consolation game at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Over the final 16:15 of game play, the Sun Devils outscored St. John's, 45-23, in a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament opener. Arizona State shot 60.0 percent from the floor in the latter stanza while St. John's committed 12 of their 16 turnovers in the second half.

LJ Figueroa scored 13 of his team-high 17 points in the opening half to lead three Johnnies in double figures.

Julian Champagnie tallied a season-high 15 points to go along with seven boards and three steals while Rasheem Dunn posted 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

Nick Rutherford added eight points, his second highest scoring total of the season, for the Red Storm in addition to tallying three rebounds, two assists and a steal.

The team's leading scorer at 17.8 points per game entering the contest, Mustapha Heron went without a field goal for 38 minutes before finishing with five points.

The early going was all St. John's, as the Red Storm jumped out to a 15-2 lead with just over five minutes gone in the contest. Arizona State went without a field goal for its first 11 possessions, missing six shots and coughing up four turnovers during that opening stretch.

Figueroa knocked down a pair of threes on the 15-2 run while Josh Roberts threw down a pair of put-back dunks.

The Sun Devils would not stay down for long, using a 14-1 spurt of their own to tie the game at 16 with just over 10 minutes to go in the opening half.

The two teams traded blows over the next several minutes before the Red Storm capped the half with another huge run. With the score knotted at 27 and four minutes remaining in the period, the Johnnies scored 13 of the stanza's final 17 points to take a 40-31 lead into the locker. Dunn and Champagnie played pivotal roles for St. John's on the spurt, as Champagnie tallied five points and Dunn added four.

With his team trailing by nine, 44-35, early in the second half, Remy Martin scored the game's next 11 points in a 14-0 Arizona State run, as the Sun Devils moved ahead by five with just six gone in the period.

Leading by three, 53-50, near the midway mark of the period, Arizona State used a 9-2 run to move ahead by double figures for the first time with eight minutes to play in the game.

The Sun Devils would lead by as many as 18 down the stretch.