St. John’s Downs Villanova, 81-71

Saturday, January 6

Villanova, Pa. (Finneran Pavilion)

1 p.m.

St. John's University

11-4,3-1Big East

Villanova

10-5,3-1Big East

St. John's (NY)

Villanova

1/6/2024 4:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Joel Soriano leads the Red Storm with 20 points and eight rebounds en route to its first win over the Wildcats at Finneran Pavilion since 1993

VILLANOVA, Pa. – Joel Soriano recorded a team-high 20 points and eight rebounds to lead the St. John's men's basketball team (11-4, 3-1) to its third win in its first four BIG EAST contests on Saturday with an 81-71 victory over Villanova (10-5, 3-1). The Johnnies led wire-to-wire for the third time in as many conference wins this season and earned their first win at Finneran Pavilion since 1993.

The Red Storm scored the first 10 points of the contest and never looked back as St. John's rolled to its third-straight victory. Daniss Jenkins and Brady Dunlap helped power the Johnnies' early surge hitting a pair of three-pointers to push the team out to a double-digit advantage by the 16:39 mark.

Dunlap finished with 15 points shooting 5-for-8 from the field with three 3-pointers in his first career start. Jenkins delivered a superb performance posting 15 points, five assists and three steals in the Red Storm's first BIG EAST road victory of the season.

St. John's opened a 15-point lead 11 minutes into the contest with Zuby Ejiofor providing instant energy off the bench on both ends of the floor. The 6-foot-9 sophomore forward helped set the tone in one of the Johnnies most dominant performances of the season. Ejiofor made a highlight reel block of TJ Bamba at the rim before throwing down an alley-oop to put the Red Storm, 24-9.

The Johnnies carried a 34-28 advantage into the break behind 10 points from Soriano. RJ Luis Jr. recorded seven of his 11 points in the opening frame and finished with seven rebounds in his fourth appearance of the season.

Glenn Taylor Jr. helped power an 8-0 run in the early stages of the second half with a pair of layups to push the Red Storm ahead 44-30 at 16:02. The 6-foot-6 junior wing also grabbed four rebounds over 20 minutes of action in his 13^th start of the season.

After the Wildcats responded with six straight points minutes later, the Johnnies hit six of their next eight shots beginning with Dunlap 3-pointer to reclaim a double-digit advantage. St. John's lead grew as large as 17 after Jenkins scored five points in seven seconds to go up 67-50 with 5:26 remaining. The graduate transfer from Iona converted a 3-point play before making a steal in the backcourt for an easy layup.

Villanova cut the Red Storm's lead to 10 with a 7-0 run capped by a pair of layups from Bamba, but Dunlap answered with the dagger, hitting a corner 3-pointer at 2:44 to put the game out of reach. It marked the second-straight game Dunlap finished in double figures, as the freshman from Newhall, Calif., has shot 10-for-15 from the field in the past two games.

Bamba led the Wildcats with 23 points, shooting 8-for-14 from the floor. Mark Armstrong and Eric Dixon each had 14 points in Villanova's first BIG EAST loss of the season.

As a team, St. John's shot 47.5 percent (29-61 FG) from the field and went 7-for-16 (43.8 percent) from distance. The Johnnies held Villanova to 21.4 percent (6-28 3FG) from 3-point territory.

St. John's carries its three-game win streak into Madison Square Garden on Wednesday when the Johnnies host Providence at 6:30 p.m. FS1 will carry the national broadcast from "The World's Most Famous Arena."