St. John’s Falls at No. 23/23 Iowa State, 71-60

Sunday, December 4

Ames, Iowa (Hilton Coliseum)

3 p.m.

St. John's University

8-1,0-0Big East

No. 23/23 Iowa State

7-1,0-0Big 12

St. John's (NY)

Iowa St.

12/4/2022 6:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Posh Alexander leads the Red Storm with 14 points in the team’s first loss of the season

AMES, Iowa – The St. John's men's basketball team dropped its first game of the season, falling 71-60 at No. 23/23 Iowa State in the Big12-BIG EAST Battle on Sunday. With the result, the BIG EAST and Big 12 split the event for the third-straight year, as the conferences each went 5-5 in the 2022-23 edition.

Posh Alexander led St. John's (8-1) with 14 points and three steals in 35 minutes of action. Rafael Pinzon and Montez Mathis also registered double-figures, posting 13 points apiece for the Johnnies.

Red Storm big man Joel Soriano paced the team in rebounds for the eighth time in nine games, pulling down 12 boards to go with seven points.

Iowa State (7-1) was led by Jaren Holmes who posted 14 points and hit a pair of threes. Robert Jones gave the Cyclones 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench. Aljaz Kunc contributed 12 points and eight rebounds while Caleb Grill added seven points and a team-high 10 boards.

The Cyclones locked in right off the tip, scoring 17 of the game's first 19 points. St. John's struggled from the field missing its first nine shot attempts before Pinzon knocked down a triple at the 9:54 mark. The Red Storm slowly began to chip away at the Cyclones' lead, scoring seven-straight points behind an Alexander three-point play and four-straight from Mathis to get the Johnnies within 24-14 with five minutes to go in the half.

St. John's trailed 33-22 at the break.

Pinzon scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, but the Johnnies couldn't get closer than nine down the stretch. The sophomore guard scored six-straight points to fuel a 7-0 run late in the stanza, converting on a three-point play followed by a 3-pointer. Mathis capped the spurt with a free-throw at 3:42 remaining to make it a 63-54 ballgame. The Cyclones outscored the Red Storm, 8-6, thereafter to hold off the Johnnies.

St. John's returns to action on Wednesday at Carnesecca Arena when the Johnnies host DePaul for their BIG EAST opener. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 p.m. on FS1.