St. John’s Advances to BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinals with 76-63 Win Over Butler

Wednesday, March 8

New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)

3 p.m.

St. John's University

18-14,7-13Big East

Butler

14-18,6-14Big East

Butler

St. John's (NY)

St. John’s Advances to BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinals with 76-63 Win Over Butler

3/8/2023 6:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Senior center Joel Soriano led five Johnnies in double figures with 19 points versus the Bulldogs

NEW YORK – The St. John's men's basketball team cruised past Butler, 76-63, in the opening round of the BIG EAST Tournament on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Joel Soriano led five Johnnies in double figures with 19 points to go with 15 rebounds. With the win, the eighth-seeded Red Storm (18-14) advances to Thursday's quarterfinals and will face top-seeded Marquette (25-6) at 12 p.m. on FS1.

Soriano, the 2023 BIG EAST Most Improved Player, notched his Division I-leading 24^th double-double of the season versus the Bulldogs (14-18). All-BIG EAST Freshman Team selection AJ Storr registered double figures for the 12^th time this season against a BIG EAST opponent, adding 15 points shooting 4-for-7 from the field and 6-for-8 at the free-throw line.

Red Storm junior guard Posh Alexander registered 13 points, five boards, two assists and a pair of steals. Dylan Addae-Wusu joined Soriano in the double-double column with 10 points and 10 rebounds over 29 minutes of work. David Jones managed to reach double figures for the 10^th-straight game, scoring 12 points off the bench.

The Red Storm outrebounded the Bulldogs, 53-28, while recording 20 second chance points.

The Johnnies got going by hitting six of their first eight shots to claim an early lead just over three minutes into the contest. St. John's did not trail the rest of the way. A Soriano dunk at the 15:29 mark in the first half jumpstarted a 15-6 run that put the Red Storm up by double-digits, 26-16, just over seven minutes later.

After seeing Butler cut its lead to three with 9:50 remaining in the half, St. John's hit 11 of its next 14 shots to build a 17-point advantage with 1:20 to go in the stanza on a Kolby King layup. St. John's would carry a 44-29 lead into the break.

Soriano and Alexander combined for 21 of the team's 44 first-half points, going 9-for-12 from the field. As a team, the Red Storm shot 54.3 percent (19-35 FG) in the opening stanza.

In the second half, St. John's built its lead as large as 21 points with 15:39 to play. Soriano and Alexander combined for the first seven points of the period and then Storr knocked down a free-throw to go up 54-33.

Butler's Simas Lukosius single-handedly tried to will the Bulldogs back, scoring 16 of his game-high 23 points in the final 20 minutes. He finished with four 3-pointers and shot 8-for-15 from the field. However, St. John's would not let Butler get closer than nine in the latter stanza.

St. John's enters Thursday's matchup with the Golden Eagles looking to avenge a 96-94 setback on Saturday in Milwaukee. The Johnnies nearly erased a 10-point deficit in the final 29 seconds of action and had a chance to tie the game at the free-throw line with 2.4 seconds remaining.