St. John’s Closes 2023 with an 84-79 Victory over Hofstra

Saturday, December 30

Belmont Park, N.Y. (UBS Arena)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

9-4,1-1Big East

Hofstra

7-6,0-0CAA

Hofstra

St. John's (NY)

St. John’s Closes 2023 with an 84-79 Victory over Hofstra

12/30/2023 4:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm guard Daniss Jenkins led the team with 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists on Saturday at UBS Arena

ELMONT, N.Y. (Dec. 30, 2023) – The St. John's men's basketball team (9-4) outlasted Hofstra (7-6), 84-79, in its final non-conference game of the regular season on Saturday at UBS Arena.

Daniss Jenkins put the Red Storm on his back and nearly recorded a triple-double, finishing with 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists without committing a turnover. The 6-foot-4 guard from Dallas shot 8-for-16 from the field and went 7-for-8 at the free-throw line. It was also the sixth time this season Jenkins tallied exactly eight assists in a game.

Fellow starters Jordan Dingle, Joel Soriano and RJ Luis Jr. recorded double figures to help St. John's improve to 6-1 at home this season. Dingle added 15 points and drained three 3-pointers in his first start since Dec. 10. Soriano had 14 points shooting 5-of-9 from the field and pulled down four boards. Luis registered his first career double-double, posting 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

As a team, the Johnnies converted 25-of-31 attempts (80.6 pct) at the free-throw line. St. John's also outrebounded the Pride, 45-27, while registering 23 second-chance points.

The Pride kept it close with the Red Storm by hitting 12 3-pointers and shooting 42.9 percent from distance. Tyler Thomas led Hofstra with 24 points and went 6-for-8 beyond the arc. Darlinstone Dubar finished with 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting and sank a pair of triples.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair as the lead changed sides eight times and the score was tied on five occasions. At the 6:38 mark, Luis drained a 3-pointer to put St. John's up 21-20 and the Johnnies managed to maintain an advantage the rest of the way.

Dingle scored the next eight points for the Johnnies with a pair of 3-pointers that bookended two free-throws all in 58 seconds to put St. John's up 29-25 at 4:33. The Red Storm led by as many as six in the final four minutes before eventually carrying a 36-32 advantage into the break.

The Johnnies surged to a 13-point lead, 45-32, just 2:21 into the second half by unleashing a 9-0 run on the Pride. However, the backcourt tandem of Dubar and Thomas wouldn't let Hofstra go down easily, as they combined to score 31 points in the second half and trimmed the deficit to as few as three down the stretch.

Jenkins took the game over for St. John's in the final nine minutes where he scored 15 points shooting 6-for-8 from the field. The Iona transfer recorded 10 straight points for the Red Storm over a four-minute stretch that was capped by a layup at 4:42 to go up 71-65. Jenkins would then score five of the team's final seven points, including a clutch jumper with 25 seconds on the clock to push St. John's advantage to five. The graduate student sealed the victory with three free-throws in the final eight seconds.

The Red Storm will return to action in 2024 as its readies for BIG EAST foe Butler on Jan. 2 inside Carnesecca Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. with the national telecast airing on FS1.