St. John’s Rolls to a 77-61 Victory over Butler

Tuesday, January 10

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

6:30 p.m.

St. John's University

12-6,2-5Big East

Butler

10-8,2-5Big East

Butler

St. John's (NY)

1/10/2023 10:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm senior center Joel Soriano registers fifth 20-point performance of the season on Tuesday at Carnesecca Arena

QUEENS, N.Y. – Senior center Joel Soriano churned out his NCAA-leading 15^th double-double to help lead the St. John's men's basketball team to a 77-61 victory over Butler (10-8, 2-5) on Tuesday at Carnesecca Arena.

Soriano recorded a game-high 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting to go with 10 rebounds. It was the Yonkers native's third 20-plus point effort in the last four games and his fifth of the season.

Red Storm freshman guard AJ Storr scored 12 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers in his second-straight start. Andre Curbelo added 11 points while his former high school teammate Rafael Pinzon was the fourth Johnnie in double-figures with 10 points.

As a team, St. John's (12-6, 2-5) racked up a season-high 16 steals against the Bulldogs, the most in a game since recording 20 against Stony Brook on Dec. 6, 2020. Posh Alexander matched his career-high with six steals to go with nine points and two assists. Curbelo also tied a personal best with four steals and Dylan Addae-Wusu finished with a pair of steals.

Soriano came out firing on all cylinders, tallying 10 of the Johnnies' first 12 points and sank seven-straight buckets to open the game with 14 first-half points.

Fresh off the bench, Kolby King drained a corner triple before Pinzon hit a mid-range jumper to cap off an 11-3 run, pushing the Red Storm's lead to eight, 26-18, with just under 10 minutes to go in the first half.

St. John's led by as many as 11 points in the first half. The Johnnies carried a double-digit lead into the break after Curbelo swiped the ball from Butler's Eric Hunter Jr. at midcourt and pushed it ahead to Addae-Wusu for the slam, sending St. John's up 39-29 at halftime.

The Red Storm shot 5-for-8 from distance in the second half, beginning with a triple from Storr that put St. John's up 46-34 at the 15:47 mark. Midway through the stanza, St. John's rattled off three-straight 3-pointers to open a 16-point advantage. After Pinzon and David Jones buried consecutive threes within 50 seconds, Curbelo shook off a defender and drained a step-back triple of his own to give the Red Storm an 66-50 advantage with 8:13 on the clock.

Curbelo finished with a game-high six assists and hit all four free-throw attempts in 26 minutes off the bench. Jones contributed eight points and six rebounds in 19 minutes of action.

St. John's led by as many as 19 points with two minutes to go as the Johnnies improved to 9-2 at Carnesecca Arena.

The Red Storm shot 52.6 percent (30-57 FG) from the field and helped force Butler into 22 turnovers. St. John's bench also outscored the Bulldogs, 32-13.

Butler was led by Chuck Harris who recorded a team-high 17 points to go with five rebounds and two assists. The junior guard hit 4-of-7 attempts from distance.

The Johnnies return to action on Sunday taking on No. 6/7 UConn (15-2, 4-2) at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. FS1 will carry the national telecast at 12 p.m.