St. John’s Takes Down No. 15/15 Creighton. 80-66, on Johnnies Day

Sunday, February 25

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

12 p.m.

St. John's University

16-12,8-9Big East

No. 15/15 Creighton

20-8,11-6Big East

Creighton

St. John's (NY)

St. John’s Takes Down No. 15/15 Creighton. 80-66, on Johnnies Day

2/25/2024 4:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Daniss Jenkins led the Red Storm with 27 points and six assists in Sunday’s victory over the Bluejays at Madison Square Garden

NEW YORK (Feb. 25, 2024) – Daniss Jenkins scored 27 points and dished out six assists to lead the St. John's men's basketball team (16-12, 8-9) to an 80-66 victory over No. 15/15 Creighton (20-8, 11-6) on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm dished out 24 assists and committed only three turnovers to earn its second-straight victory before 12,061 fans at The Garden on the University's second-annual Johnnies Day.

Sunday's victory marked St. John's first over a ranked opponent since taking down No. 20/17 Providence during last year's Johnnies Day celebration on Feb. 11, 2023 at "The World's Most Famous Arena."

As a team, the Red Storm shot 47.2 percent from the field and hit 32 of its 34 made field goals inside the 3-point arc. St. John's also shot a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Defensively, the Johnnies allowed Creighton to shoot just 23.1 percent (6-26 3FG) from 3-point territory while forcing 13 turnovers.

Senior guard Jordan Dingle followed up his season-high 22-point performance in Wednesday's win at Georgetown with an 18-point effort against the Bluejays. The Valley Stream, N.Y., native shot 8-for-13 from the field in 25 minutes of action. Junior wing Glenn Taylor Jr. also shined for the Johnnies, posting a career-high 10 rebounds and matching Jenkins with a game-high six assists.

The Red Storm hit 10 of its first 14 shot attempts to build a double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the contest. St. John's used a 12-2 run that featured buckets from six different players to claim a 20-10 advantage by the 12:10 mark.

Creighton guard Tre Alexander answered with 10-straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers, before Steven Ashworth and Baylor Scheierman finished at the rim put the Bluejays up 23-22 with eight minutes to play.

After exchanging baskets with the Bluejays and trailing 25-24 at the 7:21 mark, St. John's recaptured a lead it would not relinquish by closing the half on a 17-3 run. Simeon Wilcher jumpstarted the spurt with his third jumper of the first half. The Johnnies closed the opening stanza with an 8-0 run with Jenkins knocking down two shots to send the team into the break with a 41-28 advantage.

St. John's recorded 14 assists on its 19 made field goals in the opening half while committing only one turnover. Jenkins had four assists at the break and Zuby Ejiofor doubled his previous career-high with four assists over six minutes of action off the bench in the first half.

The Johnnies did not allow Creighton to get closer than five in the second half. After the Bluejays made it a 57-52 ballgame with a pair of free-throws from Baylor Scheierman with 8:12 on the clock, Dingle answered with St. John's next six points by knocking down a midrange jumper, a floater and then a layup to maintain a nine-point cushion.

From there, Jenkins took the game over by scoring nine straight points to put St. John's on top by 16 points with 2:52 to play. Joel Soriano sealed the contest at the free-throw line, hitting all four attempts in the final minute of action to secure the team's sixth BIG EAST victory by double digits. The 6-foot-11 graduate student finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks.

Alexander led all players with 31 points shooting 12-for-23 from the field. Ryan Kalkbrenner and Scheierman each finished with 12 points.

St. John's returns to action on Wednesday in Indianapolis when the Johnnies try to complete the regular-season sweep of Butler. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. at Hinkle Fieldhouse. CBS Sports Network will carry the national broadcast.