St. John’s Downs DePaul, 74-67, for First BIG EAST Win of the Season

Saturday, January 11

New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

12-5,1-3BE

DePaul

12-4,0-3BE

DePaul

St. John's

St. John’s Downs DePaul, 74-67, for First BIG EAST Win of the Season

1/11/2020 3:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm men’s basketball team assisted on 23 of 25 made baskets in victory over Blue Demons at Madison Square Garden on Saturday

NEW YORK – The St. John's men's basketball team won its second game in as many tries this season at Madison Square Garden, picking up BIG EAST win number one of the Mike Anderson Era with a 74-67 victory over DePaul on Saturday at "The World's Most Famous Arena."

The Red Storm (12-5, 1-3 BIG EAST) rebounded from some recent offensive struggles to shoot 40.3 percent from the floor, a new high-water mark for the Johnnies in conference play. St. John's valued the ball against the Blue Demons (12-4, 0-3 BIG EAST), surrendering just eight turnovers and assisting on 23 of their 25 made field goals. The Johnnies have registered eight or fewer turnovers in three of their four BIG EAST contests this season.

"I'm really happy for our guys," said Anderson after the win. "I thought they've been fighting, fighting, fighting. It's good to see them finally get over the hump."

Rasheem Dunn set a season-high point total for the second straight outing, leading the way with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. The redshirt junior guard from Brooklyn who made his first start as a Johnnie, also finished with eight boards and five assists, both of which were one off his season-high.

Mustapha Heron snapped a brief offensive funk with 15 points, 10 of which came in the first half. He sank three of his six tries from downtown and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. The senior guard from Waterbury, Conn., also dished out four assists and surrendered only one turnover.

Despite failing to appear in the starting lineup for the first time this season, freshman Julian Champagnie put forth his best effort of BIG EAST play. The 6-foot-7 forward went a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor and sank three free throws to finish with 11 points, four boards, three assists and a block.

LJ Figueroa narrowly missed becoming the fourth St. John's player in double figures, tallying nine points, three assists and a pair of steals. David Caraher also added eight points for the Red Storm.

One of the nation's top teams in terms of generating turnovers, the Red Storm lived up to its reputation on Saturday by forcing DePaul into 19 of them. 11 of those 19 miscues were the result of St. John's steals, marking the team's fourth straight outing with double-digit steals. Marcellus Earlington recorded a career-high four steals to lead the Johnnies, who entered the game ranking fourth in Division I with 10.6 thefts per contest.

DePaul took the upper hand early, using an 11-2 run to move ahead by six, 13-7, at the game's first media timeout. After the stoppage, the Red Storm quickly rattled off a 7-1 spurt of their own to knot the contest at 14 with 11:50 remaining in the opening half.

Trailing by four, 24-20, after a Jaylen Butz layup with 7:30 to play, the Red Storm began to turn defense into offense, forcing three turnovers on a 10-0 run and moving ahead by six, 30-24, with 4:38 to play in the half. Figueroa scored five of the team's points on the tear, while Dunn added a bucket and Heron capped it with a right-wing trey.

DePaul pulled within one, 30-29, before St. John's extended its lead to five, 39-34, at the break. Heron recorded eight of the team's final 11 points in the period.

St. John's shared the ball exceptionally well in the opening stanza, registering 15 assists on 15 made field goals.

St. John's wasted no time extending its lead on the other side of the intermission, scoring the first six points of the half to take an 11-point edge, 45-34, two and a half minutes into the action. Heron scored five of those six points for the Red Storm.

With the Red Storm leading by 10 following a pair of Champagnie free throws with 12:29 to go, DePaul rattled off six straight to narrow the St. John's advantage down to four, 53-49, just over a minute later.

The Johnnies promptly scored nine of the game's next 10 points, opening up its largest lead of the afternoon, 62-50, with just over eight minutes remaining. Champagnie led the way with a pair of buckets on the run.

DePaul continued to battle, whittling the Red Storm lead down to a pair of possessions in the closing minutes.

With his team trailing by five and just under a minute to play, DePaul's Jalen Coleman-Lands was fouled on a three-point attempt. He missed two of his three free throw tries before Williams Jr. nailed both his attempts on the other end to make it a six-point game with 41 seconds to go.

The Red Storm returns to action on Wednesday, traveling to Providence for an 8:30 p.m. contest with the Friars. The game will be televised live nationally on FS1 and will be feature an audio broadcast on 570 AM WMCA.