St. John’s Surges in Second Half to Defeat Quinnipiac, 96-73

Saturday, November 9

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

2 p.m.

St. John's University

2-0,0-0Big East

Quinnipiac

1-2,0-0MAAC

Quinnipiac

St. John's (NY)

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

St. John’s Surges in Second Half to Defeat Quinnipiac, 96-73

11/9/2024 5:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Red Storm men’s basketball team outscored the Bobcats 61-34 in the final 20 minutes of action to improve to 2-0

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's men's basketball team (2-0) surged in the second half, outscoring Quinnipiac (1-2) by 27 over the final 20 minutes to cruise to a 96-73 win in front of a sellout crowd at Carnesecca Arena.

After trailing by four at halftime, the Johnnies went off for 61 points in the second half, shooting 52.6% (20-38) from the field during the latter stanza.

RJ Luis Jr. had a monster performance on Saturday exploding for 24 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. The double-double marked the third of the junior's career, as he totaled 16 points and nine boards during the second half alone.

Deivon Smith was the second Johnnie to finish with a double-double logging 13 points and 10 assists. The graduate student became the first Red Storm player since Justin Simon on Dec. 31, 2017 to finish with 10-plus points (13), 10-plus assists (10), five-plus rebounds (5) and three-plus steals (3) in a single-game.

Brady Dunlap was lights out from beyond-the-arc finishing with a career-high 20 points. The sophomore made 5-of-7 attempts from distance marking the first time a Red Storm underclassmen has had five or more triples since Julian Champagnie logged five on Feb. 20, 2021 against DePaul.

Simeon Wilcher was the fourth St. John's player to score double-digits, recording 14 points for his second-straight double-figure scoring outing to start the 2024-25 campaign.

The Johnnies recorded 10 blocks on Saturday led by Zuby Ejiofor, who matched a career-high with five swats.

The Red Storm kept pace with the Bobcats through the first as Smith scored eight of the team's first 12 points, including a triple to take a 12-9 lead. Luis, who also notched the other four points, swatted away an attempt from Alexis Reyes with just under 16 minutes remaining.

Ryan Mabrey responded for the Bobcats with five straight 3-pointers to open the game before a Savion Lewis jumper lifted Quinnipiac to a six-point edge, 21-15, at 12:34. The Johnnies kept Mabrey off the scoreboard for the rest of the opening frame.

St. John's slowly chipped away at the Bobcats' advantage over the next 4:21, pulling to within two, 26-24, after a 3-pointer from Zuby Ejiofor with 8:13 remaining. After Quinnipiac grew its lead back to eight with four made free throws by Amarri Moore, Dunlap cut its deficit in half, 39-35, before intermission with his second 3-pointer of the stanza.

The Johnnies opened the second half on a 13-4 run with Luis muscling through the paint and overpowering the Bobcats on the offensive glass for a finish at the rim to start the run. Wilcher claimed the Red Storm's first lead since 15:13 of the opening frame with a fastbreak layup at 18:32. The sophomore guard poured it on with a pulverizing left-handed dunk over Reyes and a 3-pointer from the wing to take a five-point edge, 48-43.

Luis rattled off five straight points before a swipe-and-steal by Smith propelled the Red Storm's lead into double digits, 57-47, with 13:52 to play.

Dunlap sparked a St. John's 16-2 run over a span of 3:18 as the sophomore scored the first eight points of the stretch and 11 in total following his fourth 3-pointer of the game. Fellow classmate Wilcher capped off the run with another left-handed slam to put the Johnnies up, 73-54.

St. John's continued to fire on all cylinders offensively as Dunlap's fifth triple of the game brought the sophomore to his first-ever 20-point game, as the advantage grew to 78-57.

In the closing minutes, Lefteris Liotolpoulos drilled a corner 3-pointer to give the Johnnies their largest lead of the day, 94-66, with 1:53 left as the Red Storm's 61-point second half propelled it to 2-0 to start the year.

The Red Storm will be back in action at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 13, when it welcomes Wagner for a 6:30 p.m. tip on FS2.