St. John's University Athletics
Saturday, December 17
Sunrise, Fla. (FLA Live Arena)
2:30 p.m.
St. John's University
11-1,1-0Big East
93
vs
79
Florida State
3-10,1-1ACC
1
2
F
St. John's (NY)
48
45
93
Florida St.
37
42
79
St. John’s Wins Third-Straight, Downing Florida State, 93-79, in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic
12/17/2022 5:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
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Joel Soriano earned Most Valuable Player honors with his NCAA-leading 10th double-double
SUNRISE, Fla. – Joel Soriano and Dylan Addae-Wusu had career outings with 23 and 20 points, respectively, to help lead the St. John's men's basketball team past Florida State (3-10, 1-1 ACC), 93-79, in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic on Saturday. Soriano was named the game's Most Valuable Player, also finishing with 12 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the year.
Addae-Wusu matched his career-high with 20 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the floor and hitting four 3-pointers. David Jones and Andre Curbelo also finished in double-figures with 16 points and 14 points, respectively.
Posh Alexander recorded nine points, four assists and three steals in 33 minutes of action. With his four helpers, the Brooklyn native surpassed Kevin Cluess for 10th place on the program's career list with 320 assists.
St. John's (11-1, 1-0 BIG EAST) scored 30 of its points on 16 Florida State turnovers and outscored the Seminoles, 46-26, in the paint. The Red Storm also won the battle of the boards, 37-27, for the 12th time in as many games this season.
Jones, Soriano and Addae-Wusu each reached double figures before the break, combining for 37 of the team's 48 points in the first half. St. John's carried an 11-point lead into halftime after shooting 55.9 percent (19-34 FG) from the field, including 45.5 percent (5-11 3FG) from 3-point territory.
The Red Storm and Seminoles exchanged blows in the opening minutes of the contest. Addae-Wusu was a spark off the bench for the Johnnies early on, as he hit his first three shot attempts capped by a mid-range jumper to put St. John's up 25-20 at the 10:31 mark. AJ Storr also hit his first shot off the bench, burying a corner three to finish off a 7-0 run that gave St. John's an eight-point advantage at 9:19.
Five minutes later, the Johnnies uncorked another 8-0 run to build a double figure advantage, 39-29, with 4:24 to go after back-to-back buckets by Soriano. St. John's led by as many as 12 in the first half.
St. John's opened the second half on a 13-4 run to build a 20-point cushion, 61-41, and never looked back. Alexander finished off the surge with five-straight points within a span of 21 seconds. First he buried a deep three before making a steal at midcourt and going in for the breakaway layup at 15:20.
The Seminoles managed to chip away at the deficit, cutting it to six with five minutes to play. Darin Green Jr. powered Florida State's late surge by hitting four of his eight 3-pointers over the next 10 minutes. Matthew Cleveland hit a jumper to get Florida State within 78-72 with 5:06 remaining. Green finished with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting while Cleveland had 23 points and 13 rebounds.
Curbelo, who had a team-high seven assists, scored the next four points to rebuild a double-figure advantage for St. John's. The Red Storm's scoring run ballooned to 12-2 after Addae-Wusu's 3-pointer that put St. John's up 90-74 with 48 seconds remaining. The junior from the Bronx drained his fourth triple with just seconds to go sealing St. John's 11th victory of the season.
With the win, St. John's completes the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 10-1 record. It marks just the sixth time in the last four decades the Johnnies got through out-of-conference play with only one loss.
The Red Storm returns to BIG EAST action on Wednesday at Villanova. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on FS1.
Addae-Wusu matched his career-high with 20 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the floor and hitting four 3-pointers. David Jones and Andre Curbelo also finished in double-figures with 16 points and 14 points, respectively.
Posh Alexander recorded nine points, four assists and three steals in 33 minutes of action. With his four helpers, the Brooklyn native surpassed Kevin Cluess for 10th place on the program's career list with 320 assists.
St. John's (11-1, 1-0 BIG EAST) scored 30 of its points on 16 Florida State turnovers and outscored the Seminoles, 46-26, in the paint. The Red Storm also won the battle of the boards, 37-27, for the 12th time in as many games this season.
Jones, Soriano and Addae-Wusu each reached double figures before the break, combining for 37 of the team's 48 points in the first half. St. John's carried an 11-point lead into halftime after shooting 55.9 percent (19-34 FG) from the field, including 45.5 percent (5-11 3FG) from 3-point territory.
The Red Storm and Seminoles exchanged blows in the opening minutes of the contest. Addae-Wusu was a spark off the bench for the Johnnies early on, as he hit his first three shot attempts capped by a mid-range jumper to put St. John's up 25-20 at the 10:31 mark. AJ Storr also hit his first shot off the bench, burying a corner three to finish off a 7-0 run that gave St. John's an eight-point advantage at 9:19.
Five minutes later, the Johnnies uncorked another 8-0 run to build a double figure advantage, 39-29, with 4:24 to go after back-to-back buckets by Soriano. St. John's led by as many as 12 in the first half.
St. John's opened the second half on a 13-4 run to build a 20-point cushion, 61-41, and never looked back. Alexander finished off the surge with five-straight points within a span of 21 seconds. First he buried a deep three before making a steal at midcourt and going in for the breakaway layup at 15:20.
The Seminoles managed to chip away at the deficit, cutting it to six with five minutes to play. Darin Green Jr. powered Florida State's late surge by hitting four of his eight 3-pointers over the next 10 minutes. Matthew Cleveland hit a jumper to get Florida State within 78-72 with 5:06 remaining. Green finished with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting while Cleveland had 23 points and 13 rebounds.
Curbelo, who had a team-high seven assists, scored the next four points to rebuild a double-figure advantage for St. John's. The Red Storm's scoring run ballooned to 12-2 after Addae-Wusu's 3-pointer that put St. John's up 90-74 with 48 seconds remaining. The junior from the Bronx drained his fourth triple with just seconds to go sealing St. John's 11th victory of the season.
With the win, St. John's completes the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 10-1 record. It marks just the sixth time in the last four decades the Johnnies got through out-of-conference play with only one loss.
The Red Storm returns to BIG EAST action on Wednesday at Villanova. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on FS1.
Team Stats
SJU
FSU
FG%
.524
.474
3FG%
.444
.579
FT%
.826
.737
RB
37
27
TO
11
16
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
23
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
11
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
Guard
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