3-Point Barrage Leads St. John’s Past No. 10/11 Creighton, 91-71

Sunday, March 1

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

15-14,4-12BE

Creighton

22-7,11-5BE

Creighton

St. John's

3-Point Barrage Leads St. John’s Past No. 10/11 Creighton, 91-71

3/1/2020 4:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm defeats top-10 team in Queens for the first time in more than 30 years

QUEENS, N.Y. – In his two seasons at St. John's, Greg Williams Jr. had never scored more than 11 points in a single game. On Sunday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena, the sophomore guard forever etched his name in St. John's lore, connecting on seven 3-pointers and leading the Red Storm to a 91-71 win over No. 10/11 Creighton.

The win marked the first for the Johnnies against a top-10 opponent on campus since Feb. 28, 1987, when the Redmen knocked off No. 9 Pitt at Alumni Hall. The 20-point margin of victory tied for the third widest in program history against a top 10 opponent and was the largest for St. John's against a top-10 foe since Malik Sealy tallied a 25-point, 18-rebound double-double in a 90-57 rout of No. 6 Connecticut at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 1, 1992.

"It's good to see us put 40 minutes together," said St. John's Head Coach Mike Anderson. "Even as they came back and they took the lead our guys didn't waver. We continued to do what we were doing. Our guys continued to make the right plays defensively and offensively."

As a team, the Red Storm connected on 14 of its 22 tries (63.6%) from beyond the arc, setting season-highs for both made triples and three-point percentage. St. John's, which entered the game ranked 307^th nationally in three-point percentage, had not made more than 46.7 percent of its long-range tries in any one game this season.

The Bluejays, who ranked ninth in the nation with a three-point percentage of 38.5 entering Sunday's contest, connected on just four of their 27 tries from deep (14.8%). Mitch Ballock, Ty-Shon Alexander and Marcus Zegarowski, all of whom were shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range on the season, combined to go 4-for-21 from downtown.

Williams' career-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc were far from the only highlight for the Johnnies on Sunday.

Rasheem Dunn tallied his first double-double as a Johnnie, pouring in 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting while adding a career-high 10 assists and six rebounds. As a team, St. John's assisted on 23 of its 33 made field goals, the team's second highest total of the season in that category.

LJ Figueroa recorded his second double-double of the campaign, scoring 16 points while grabbing a season-high 12 boards. The junior wing, who connected on three of his four tries from beyond the arc, also dished out five assists and blocked a shot in 31 minutes of action.

Freshman Julian Champagnie finished in double figures for the fifth straight game, tallying 13 points and five rebounds. The Brooklyn native made five of his 10 field goal attempts, including a 2-for-4 showing from beyond the arc.

David Caraher scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, including a few clutch three-point plays. Nick Rutherford recorded five points and five assists while finishing with a team-best plus/minus of +27.

After a back-and-forth start resulted in a 14-14 tie with six minutes gone in the contest, the Red Storm broke open the scoring with a 14-2 run. Caraher kicked off the tear with a baseline jumper before Williams added his second trey of the day. Following a Christian Bishop layup, four different Johnnies found the bottom of the bucket, including a 15-foot jumper from Justin Cole to cap the run and put the Red Storm ahead by 12, 28-16, with 9:13 to play in the half.

Creighton missed its first nine attempts of the game from beyond the arc before Ballock knocked down a trey to pull the Bluejays within three, 37-34, with 2:41 remaining in the half.

From there, the Red Storm rattled off five straight to move ahead by as many as eight before taking a seven-point lead, 44-37, into the locker room.

Creighton chipped away at the St. John's lead to the start of the second half, eventually pulling back ahead, 56-54, after a Damien Jefferson layup and a 1-for-2 trip to the line for Alexander with 12:51 to go.

Facing its first deficit since 10-9 at the 15:32 mark of the first half, St. John's did not trail for long. Rutherford, Williams and Figueroa nailed treys on three consecutive possessions, putting the Red Storm ahead by seven, 63-56, with 11:08 remaining.

With St. John's leading by four, 67-63, and eight minutes to go, Williams' fifth triple of the day kick-started a 17-1 run in the span of just three minutes, quickly putting the game out of reach. Williams, who had hit just 12 3-pointers on the year entering Sunday's contest, nailed three treys on the spurt while Figueroa added another.

The Red Storm last scored 91 points in a BIG EAST game at Carnesecca Arena on Dec. 27, 2011, as Moe Harkless went for 32 and 13 in a 24-point win over Providence.

The Johnnies have two games remaining in the 2019-20 regular season, traveling to Butler for a Wednesday night matchup before closing things out with Senior Day against Marquette at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon. Tickets for the regular season finale are available by visiting RedStormTix.com or calling the St. John's Ticket Office at 1-888-GO-STORM.