St. John’s Falls to DePaul, 88-83

Saturday, February 20

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

7:30 p.m.

St. John's University

14-9, 8-8BE

DePaul

4-10, 2-10BE

DePaul

St. John's

2/20/2021 11:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Blue Demons shoot 63 percent from the field

QUEENS, N.Y. – St. John's cut a 15-point deficit down to four in the final minute of play, but the late run ultimately fell short, 88-83, against DePaul on Saturday in Queens.

DePaul (4-10, 2-10 BIG EAST) shot a season-high 63.0 percent on the game, including a 4-for-8 effort from deep, and outscored St. John's, 58-18, in the paint. Charlie Moore, who had missed the last two games with injury, scored a team-high 24 points and dished out eight assists for the Blue Demons.

Julian Champagnie scored a game-high 29 points on 9-of-21 shooting and grabbed seven boards for St. John's (14-9, 8-8 BIG EAST), which lost at home to an unranked opponent for just the second time this season.

Isaih Moore scored seven of his 16 points at the free throw line and grabbed six boards. The junior big man from Columbia, S.C., netted 13 of his points after the break.

Dylan Addae-Wusu and Vince Cole also finished in double figures, tallying 13 and 10 points, respectively.

St. John's dominated the offensive glass, but was only able to turn 18 boards into 13 second-chance points.

The Red Storm forced DePaul into 24 turnovers, but converted those extra possessions into only 26 points. St. John's, which ranked seventh in the country in steals per game entering the weekend, recorded 11 thefts.

St. John's started slow out of the gate, as the Blue Demons jumped out to a 9-3 lead on a Pauly Paulicap old-fashioned three-point play with just over three minutes gone in the game.

St. John's responded with eight straight take an 11-9 edge, but the lead was short-lived. Ahead 16-14 followed a Champagnie trey, St. John's saw DePaul embark on a 15-3 to move ahead by 10, 29-19, with 9:11 to go in the half.

From there, the Johnnies slowly chipped into the DePaul lead, using a 16-6 run to tie the game at 37 on a pair of Cole free throws with 1:47 to go in the half.

St. John's briefly retook the lead, 40-39, but DePaul scored the final bucket of the half to take a one-point lead into the intermission.

DePaul found it hard to miss in the early going of the second half while St. John's struggled to find any offensive rhythm. The Blue Demons opened on a 21-7 run to take a 15-point lead, its largest of the game, with 10:29 to play. St. John's went nearly five minutes without a point during the spurt, allowing DePaul to score 11 unanswered between the 18:38 and 15:06 marks.

Trailing by that same 15-point margin, 66-51, with 8:20 to play, St. John's rattled off an 8-0 to make it a seven-point game, 66-59, on a pair of Champagnie free throws with 6:04 to go.

DePaul would get its lead back to double digits, but Moore drained a three and made two free throws to pull St. John's within five, 72-67, with just under four minutes to play.

The Red Storm managed to get within four with 40 seconds to play, but could not get any closer as DePaul held on for an 88-83 win.

The Johnnies return to action on Tuesday, traveling to No. 10/7 Villanova for an 8 p.m. contest with the Wildcats. St. John's, which topped Villanova earlier this month at Carnesecca Arena, will look to complete a regular season sweep of its longtime BIG EAST foe for the first time since 1992-93.