St. John’s Falls to Dayton in Charleston Classic Semifinal, 88-81

Friday, November 17

Charleston, S.C. (TD Arena)

2 p.m.

St. John's University

2-2,0-0Big East

Dayton

3-1,0-0Atlantic 10

St. John's (NY)

Dayton

St. John’s Falls to Dayton in Charleston Classic Semifinal, 88-81

11/17/2023 6:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm senior center Joel Soriano scored a team-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The St. John's men's basketball team dropped its semifinal matchup in the Charleston Classic to Dayton, 88-81, on Friday at TD Arena. The Johnnies will wrap up the tournament on Sunday against Utah (3-1) in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m.

The Red Storm led by two points at intermission and held a six-point advantage just over two minutes into the second half before Dayton got a lift from juniors Nate Santos and DaRon Holmes II. Santos scored 13 of his 18 points in the stanza while Holmes recorded 14 of his 21 points in the final 20 minutes.

Senior center Joel Soriano led four Johnnies in double figures with 21 points on an 8-for-13 shooting effort for his eighth career 20-point performance. The Yonkers, N.Y., native also pulled down a game-high nine boards in 29 minutes of action. Fellow senior Jordan Dingle recorded a season-best 14 points shooting 5-for-10 from the floor to go with a pair of steals.

Daniss Jenkins chipped in 12 points and eight assists against the Flyers while Glenn Taylor Jr. rounded out the Johnnies in double figures with 11 points, six rebounds, and three assists.

St. John's (2-2) shot 48.4 percent from the floor (30-62 FG) on Friday, but Dayton (3-1) registered a 51.8 field goal percentage (29-56 FG) and went 23-for-28 (82.1 pct) at the line.

It was a back-and-forth affair for the first 29 minutes of action with the scored tied on 12 occasions and there were eight lead changes.

Dingle scored four of the team's first eight points of the second half and gave the Johnnies their largest lead, 48-42, with a jumper at 17:52. St. John's did not trail for the next six minutes until Dayton claimed all momentum. After Soriano put the Red Storm up 59-58 with a free-throw at the 11:46 mark, the Flyers went on a 9-0 run to take an advantage it would not relinquish.

Enoch Cheeks, who scored eight of his 10 points in the latter stanza, hit two free-throws to cap the run and put the Flyers up 67-59 with 9:33 to play. The Johnnies could not manage to get closer than six the rest of the way.

St. John's found success in the first half by forcing Dayton into eight miscues and hitting 12-of-13 attempts from the free-throw line. Soriano had 14 of his 21 points before intermission, going 5-for-8 from the field and hitting his fourth 3-pointer of the season.

Zuby Ejiofor gave the Red Storm good energy off the bench on Friday, finishing with a career-high nine points to go with six rebounds and a block. Chris Ledlum also recorded nine points and matched Soriano with a game-high nine rebounds, seven of which came on the defensive glass.

St. John's final contest of the Charleston Classic against Utah will air nationally on either ESPN.