No. 22/20 St. John’s Tops DePaul in BIG EAST Opener, 79-66

Tuesday, December 16

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

7-3,1-0Big East

DePaul

8-4,0-1Big East

DePaul

St. John's (NY)

No. 22/20 St. John’s Tops DePaul in BIG EAST Opener, 79-66

12/16/2025 10:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Play-by-Play (PDF)Photo Gallery Postgame Quotes VIDEO: Highlights VIDEO: Press Conference Photo Gallery

Dylan Darling leads balanced scoring effort as Red Storm rattle off fifth-straight win in BIG EAST openers

QUEENS, N.Y. - The No. 22/20 St. John's men's basketball team (7-3, 1-0 BIG EAST) topped DePaul (8-4, 0-1 BIG EAST), 79-66, for its fifth-straight victory in conference openers on Tuesday at Carnesecca Arena.

The Red Storm maintained a double-digit cushion for most of the contest behind a balance scoring effort. St. John's outpaced DePaul in bench scoring, 32-4, to earn its 18^th consecutive victory at Carnesecca Arena. During the Rick Pitino Era, St. John's has won all 18 contests at its on-campus venue including 17 of them by 13 points or more with an average margin of victory of 24.5 points per game.

Dylan Darling led St. John's with a season-high 17 points during his first taste of BIG EAST action. The redshirt junior shot 5-for-9 from the floor, 3-for-5 (60 percent) from 3-point land and grabbed a season-best six rebounds.

Joson Sanon nearly tallied his first career double-double, adding 15 points while matching career-highs in rebounds (9) and blocks (2). The sophomore guard shot 50 percent going 5-for-10 from the field with a pair of triples in the winning effort.

Zuby Ejiofor continued his recent rim-protecting dominance logging four blocks against the Blue Demons. Over the last three games, the forward has totaled 20 blocks, which marks the most in that span by a BIG EAST player since former Johnnie Chris Obekpa recorded 22 swats from Nov. 22-29, 2013. The senior captain additionally tacked on nine points and seven boards.

Ian Jackson reached double-figures for the second consecutive contest recording 10 points. Ruben Prey chipped in nine points on perfect 4-for-4 shooting and Dillon Mitchell pulled down eight rebounds.

The Johnnies made double-digit 3-pointers for the fourth time in the last seven games and shot 45.5 percent (10-22 3FG) from long-range. Six different players cashed in from downtown, including four in the opening eight minutes. For the second straight game, St. John's shot over 80 percent from the free throw line cashing in on 17-for-21 attempts (81.0%) from the charity stripe.

DePaul's Kaleb Banks led all players with 19 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's conference opener.

Sanon opened the scoring for the Red Storm by banking in an off-balanced triple as the shot clock expired. The 3-pointer sparked a 10-2 run for the Red Storm as it sprung out to an early advantage. The Blue Demons tied the contest with a three-point play right after the first media timeout of the evening. Darling and Prey answered by splashing triples to push the Johnnies ahead 19-14 at the under-12 stoppage.

Darling connected from deep for the second time, which ignited a 9-0 scoring spurt for the Johnnies that was capped off by a steal and a two-handed fastbreak jam from Prey as the lead grew to 12, 28-16, with 8:07 remaining in the opening stanza.

After the Blue Demons broke up the Johnnies scoring surge with a triple from RJ Smith, the Red Storm rattled off the next nine points as the lead grew to 16.

DePaul brought the deficit back to single digits responding with a 9-0 run of its own over the final five minutes of the half. Bryce Hopkins threw one high off the window as Ejiofor soared for a putback slam to close out the first half scoring as St. John's brought an 11-point cushion, 39-28, into the locker room. The Red Storm shot 50 percent (5-10 FG) from the 3-point line and 85.7 percent (6-7 FT) from the charity stripe during the opening 20 minutes.

As the second half got underway, the Johnnies stayed hot from long-range. Jackson and Hopkins drilled 3-pointers early in the latter stanza to bring the lead to 15, 47-32, three minutes into the period.

CJ Gunn nailed a 3-pointer and knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to trim the visitors' deficit to seven on two separate occasions. Darling rejuvenated the Red Storm offense with a make in the paint followed by a corner 3-point that sent sold-out Carnesecca Arena crowd into a frenzy, ballooning the advantage back to double-digits, 52-40, with 12:08 remaining.

Prey finished on the break once again with a crafty lay-up to cap off his perfect shooting night from the floor. Oziyah Sellers got on the board from the free throw line as the advantage rose to 15, 60-45, midway through the second half.

After both teams sputtered offensively over the next five minutes, the Johnnies continued to light it up from long distance as Sellers flushed a triple as part of seven unanswered Red Storm points. It pushed the lead back to 17, 73-56, with 3:21 to play. Sanon knocked down the 10^th 3-point of the evening for the Red Storm to secure its first league victory as it seeks to defend its BIG EAST Regular Season Championship.

St. John's will make its way to Atlanta to battle RV/RV Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.