RV/RV St. John’s Rolls to 99-77 Victory over Bryant

Wednesday, December 11

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

8-2,0-0Big East

Bryant

6-6,0-0America East

Bryant

St. John's (NY)

RV/RV St. John’s Rolls to 99-77 Victory over Bryant

12/11/2024 10:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm forwards Zuby Ejiofor and Aaron Scott log double-double efforts in Wednesday’s win over Bulldogs at Carnesecca Arena

QUEENS, N.Y. – Double-double efforts from Zuby Ejiofor and Aaron Scott lifted the RV/RV St. John's men's basketball team (8-2) to a 99-77 victory over Bryant (6-6) inside Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday.

Ejiofor recorded his fourth double-double of the season with a 22-point, 10-rebound performance. The Johnnies' big man shot 7-for-10 from the floor, sank eight free throws and blocked two shots.

Scott registered 17 points, shooting 6-for-8 inside the 3-point arc to go with 10 boards over 36 minutes. A 6-foot-7 senior from Spring, Texas, Scott was also one of five Red Storm players to finish with two steals in the contest.

As a team, St. John's shot 50.0 percent (39-78 FG) from the field and hit 59.6 percent of its field goal attempts from two-point territory. St. John's dominated the paint, scoring 54 points up close and recorded 26 points off second chance opportunities. The Red Storm's defense also helped cause 19 turnovers while scoring 17 points off the mishaps.

RJ Luis Jr. added 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Johnnies. Simeon Wilcher and Deivon Smith rounded out the Red Storm's five double-digit scorers with 14 points apiece. Smith shot 6-for-10 from the floor and hit two 3-pointers, to go with four rebounds, three assists and two steals in just 18 minutes off the bench.

The Bulldogs managed to hang close with St. John's throughout the first half behind sophomore forward Keyshawn Mitchell's 15-point effort in the opening frame. Mitchell finished with game-highs of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

St. John's led by as many as eight at 6:32 in the first half before Bryant managed to trim its deficit to 45-41 at the break. Wilcher helped carry the Johnnies in the high scoring opening stanza with 12 points shooting 5-for-7 from the field including a pair of 3-pointers.

Bryant scored three of the first four buckets in the second half to tie the game on two occasions in the first two minutes, but Luis answered with five-straight points to put the Red Storm back up, 52-47, at 17:40. St. John's would lead the rest of the way.

The Johnnies blew the game open midway through the period with a 17-1 run over a four-minute stretch to take a 19-point advantage with 8:51 remaining. The balanced scoring spurt featured five points from Ejiofor, four from both Scott and Luis, a putback by Smith and a layup by Richmond to send St. John's ahead, 75-56. The lead grew to 20 after Brady Dunlap buried an open three to send his team up, 79-59, at 8:15.

Defensively, St. John's locked down on Bryant, holding the Bulldogs without a field goal for more than five minutes between layups from Cramer at 12:56 and 7:51. The Bulldogs also committed 11 of their 19 turnovers in the final 20 minutes of action.

Smith got the Carnesecca Arena crowd jumping and gave the Red Storm its largest lead of the night, 91-68, when he soared above the rim for a one-handed putback dunk with less than four minutes to play. The Johnnies would coast to their fifth win by 20-points or more this season.

St. John's will wrap up its four-game homestead and open BIG EAST play when DePaul comes to Carneseecca Arena on Tuesday. Tip-off from Queens is slated for 6:30 p.m. on Peacock.