St. John’s Falls at Villanova, 78-63

Wednesday, December 21

Villanova, Pa. (Finneran Pavilion)

6:30 p.m.

St. John's University

11-2,1-1Big East

Villanova

7-5,1-0Big East

St. John's (NY)

Villanova

12/21/2022 9:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Joel Soriano registered his 11th double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds against the Wildcats

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The St. John's men's basketball team dropped just its second contest of the season, falling to Villanova, 78-63, inside Finneran Pavilion on Wednesday.

Senior center Joel Soriano churned out his 11^th double-double of the year, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go with 13 rebounds. His 11 double-doubles match the most in a single season for a St. John's player since Moe Harkless registered 11 during the 2011-12 campaign. Soriano also set a career-high with four blocks on Wednesday.

Red Storm freshman AJ Storr turned in his best performance of the season, shooting 6-for-9 from the floor with three 3-pointers to finish with 15 points in 19 minutes off the bench. David Jones added nine points, eight rebounds and three assists in the setback.

Villanova (7-5, 1-0) was led by Eric Dixon who recorded 18 points and grabbed six boards. The Wildcats converted 16-of-17 free-throw attempts while St. John's went 3-for-6 at the charity stripe.

St. John's (11-2, 1-1) led by as many as 11 points in the first half and turned the Wildcats over seven times in the opening 16 minutes of action. Villanova entered the contest ranked second in the nation with just 9.1 turnovers per game.

Storr got the Johnnies going early, as the freshman from Rockford, Ill., buried his first three shot attempts. The 6-foot-6 guard topped an 8-0 run with his first 3-pointer that put the Red Storm ahead 19-12 at the 12:01 mark. Storr would score the team's next five points, hitting another triple and then a mid-range jumper to take a double-digit advantage, 24-14, with just over 10 minutes to play in the half.

The Johnnies earned their largest lead of the game on Jones' triple at 6:16 that pushed the advantage to 29-18. From there, it was all Villanova as the Wildcats rattled off 17 of the final 19 points of the stanza to claim a four-point advantage at intermission. Brandon Slater helped power the Wildcats late first half surge by scoring seven points over a 13-0 run in the final 3:53.

Soriano tallied eight of the Red Storm's first 10 points of the second half. However, Villanova hit 11 of its first 18 shots to build a double-digit lead. The Wildcats led by as many as 17 points and maintained their double-figure advantage for the final 14 minutes of play. Villanova also limited its turnover total to just four in the second half.

St. John's won the battle of the boards, 42-38, for the 13^th time in as many games this season. The Johnnies also dished out 18 assists with Andre Curbelo and Dylan Addae-Wusu handing out a team-high five apiece.

The Red Storm will look to bounce back after the holiday break when it returns to Carnesecca Arena on Dec. 28 to take on Xavier (10-3, 2-0) at 9 p.m. on FS1.