No. 22/25 St. John’s Earns an 85-71 Victory over RV/RV New Mexico at MSG

Sunday, November 17

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

12 p.m.

St. John's University

4-0,0-0Big East

New Mexico

3-1,0-0Mountain West

New Mexico

St. John's (NY)

No. 22/25 St. John’s Earns an 85-71 Victory over RV/RV New Mexico at MSG

11/17/2024 3:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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RJ Luis Jr. scored a game-high 21 points to help lead the Red Storm past the Lobos in the NYC Hoops for Heroes Classic benefiting the Tunnel to Towers Foundation

NEW YORK – Junior wing RJ Luis Jr. registered 21 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high seven assists to propel the No. 22/25 St. John's men's basketball team to an 85-71 victory over RV/RV New Mexico in front of 12,310 fans at Madison Square Garden. Sunday's NYC Hoops for Heroes Classic benefited the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

Luis grabbed eight of his 11 boards on the offensive glass and shot 50.0 percent (8-16 FG) from the field. The 6-foot-7 wing from Miami led five Red Storm starters in double figures in St. John's first game at "The World's Most Famous Arena" this season.

Red Storm guard Deivon Smith scored 12 of his 15 points in the opening half of play and finished with five rebounds and three assists. Backcourt mate Kadary Richmond produced 14 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go with eight boards, five assists and a game-high four steals.

The Johnnies' Aaron Scott also notched 14 points in the victory, going 5-for-10 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers. The 6-foot-7 senior wing recorded a season-best six boards and three steals. Zuby Ejiofor rounded out those St. John's players with double figures finishing with a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double while adding three assists and two blocks.

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Pitino improved to 3-1 all-time against his son, Lobos' Head Coach Richard Pitino. Richard Pitino, who recently led New Mexico to a victory over then-No. 22 UCLA in Las Vegas, won the last matchup with his father, defeating Iona, 82-74, on Dec. 18, 2022, in Albuquerque, N.M.

The Red Storm (4-0) pulled down 49 rebounds in the winning effort, including 22 on the offensive glass. The 22 offensive rebounds were the most in a single game for St. John's since Feb. 22, 2009, when the team racked up 27 against Seton Hall. The Red Storm also recorded 25 second-chance points in the contest.

New Mexico (3-1) took an early lead and held an 8-6 advantage just over five minutes into the contest on a layup from Mustapha Amzil. Amzil matched former Iona star Nelly Junior Joseph with a team-high 16 points on the afternoon.

The Johnnies answered with the next six points of the contest to take an advantage it would not relinquish. After back-to-back jumpers from Simeon Wilcher and Richmond, Ruben Prey came off the bench and converted a layup through contact to put St. John's on top, 12-8, with 13:22 on the clock.

St. John's locked down the Lobos after they pulled within one, 12-11, on Amzil's 3-pointer at 12:54, and did not allow a New Mexico field goal for the next five and a half minutes. The Johnnies built their lead to double digits with an 11-0, capped by Luis' corner triple to take a 25-13 advantage.

The Red Storm saw its lead grow to as many as 16 before intermission with Smith scoring eight of the team's final 10 points of the half. The senior guard out of Decatur, Ga., finished on fastbreaks in back-to-back possessions before an Ejiofor slam with 2:39 remaining. Smith closed out the half with consecutive layups after pulling down an offensive board and forcing a turnover with heavy pressure to go up, 40-24.

The Johnnies took a 40-29 lead into the intermission, shooting 50.0 percent (18-36 FG) in the first half and 61.5 percent (16-26 FG) inside the arc. Smith led all scorers with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting at the break.

St. John's and New Mexico exchanged blows to open the second stanza with the Lobos cutting their deficit down to as few as six, 54-48, after CJ Noland knocked down a 3-pointer with 13:30 remaining.

Ejiofor shifted momentum back to St. John's side by energizing The Garden crowd with a two-handed slam that sent the Johnnies back on top by double digits. Richmond also gave the Red Storm a boost less than a minute later with a one-handed dunk in transition to take a 60-48 advantage.

New Mexico clawed back to within four points with an 11-3 run before Scott answered with a clutch 3-pointer from the wing to push the Johnnies up, 66-59. The Spring, Texas native then capped off a 9-2 stretch to give St. John's a comfortable cushion, as Richmond found him wide open underneath the basket with the shot clock winding down, banking in a layup for a 72-61 lead with 5:02 remaining.

The Red Storm will make its first road trip of the 2024-25 campaign when it heads down to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Hoops Championship to face No. 12/14 Baylor on Thursday. Tip-off from Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center is slated for 7 p.m. on CBSSN.