St. John’s Dominates Second Half to Roll Past Butler, 84-70

Tuesday, January 6

Indianapolis, Ind. (Hinkle Fieldhouse)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

10-5,3-1Big East

Butler

10-6,1-4Big East

St. John's (NY)

Butler

Zuby Ejiofor dominated against the Bulldogs, scoring a team-high 18 points on 50 percent shooting to go along with five rebounds and two assists.

St. John’s Dominates Second Half to Roll Past Butler, 84-70

1/6/2026 9:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Red Storm men’s basketball team outscored the Bulldogs 42-28 over the final 20 minutes at Hinkle Fieldhouse

INDIANAPOLIS- After the score was knotted at the break, the St. John's men's basketball team dominated the second half to earn a convincing road win at Butler, 84-70, inside historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The first half featured 10 ties and four lead changes before the Red Storm outscored the Bulldogs, 42-28, in the latter stanza. The Johnnies orchestrated a decisive 32-13 scoring run in the second half to claim their seventh consecutive victory over Butler on Tuesday.

Dating back to last season, St. John's has won five-straight BIG EAST road games. The streak marks the program's longest stretch in conference play away from home since it captured five consecutive contests from Jan. 20 to Feb. 20, 1999.

The reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week, Zuby Ejiofor, turned in another strong performance on Tuesday in Indianapolis. The senior led the Red Storm with 18 points and matched a career-high with three steals. Over the last three games, the Garland, Texas native is averaging 25.3 points per game.

After playing just four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Bryce Hopkins fueled the second half effort tallying 15 of his 17 points over the final 20 minutes. The graduate student shot 6-for-10 (60%) from the floor during the latter stanza.

The sophomore duo of Ruben Prey and Lefteris Liotopoulos provided a sizeable lift off the bench. Both players scored in double-figures for the second time this season and they each flushed a pair of 3-pointers. The 10-point effort tied a career-best for Liotopoulos.

Oziyah Sellers was the fifth Red Storm player to reach double-digits adding 10 points, five rebounds and four boards in the winning effort. The Johnnies (10-5, 3-1 BIG EAST) shot 50 percent (33-66 FG) for the seventh time and improved to 7-0 when shooting 50 percent or better this season.

The Johnnies forced Butler (10-6, 1-4 BIG EAST) into a season-high 21 turnovers, converting the takeaways into 27 points. The last three times the Bulldogs have committed 21 or more giveaways in a single game have all come against St. John's dating back to Jan. 10, 2023. On the other end, the Red Storm turned the ball over a season-low five times, including just once in the final 25:52 of game time. The turnover total marked the program's lowest in a road game since it registered four at then-No. 12 Villanova on Feb. 26, 2020.

In the early going, the Red Storm and Bulldogs were neck-and-neck trading baskets at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Dillon Mitchell rose up for an emphatic one-handed jam to knot the score, 8-8, with 14:21 on the clock in the first half. The sophomore returners for St. John's responded as Prey knocked down a corner triple to tie the score for the seventh time in the opening eight minutes, 15-15. Liotopoulos flushed a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Johnnies back in front, 18-15.

The two teams continued to go back-and-forth as Ejiofor threw down a fastbreak slam to give the Red Storm a four-point edge, 22-18, its largest lead of the half, with 9:44 left in the first frame. The Bulldogs responded with eight straight points to regain control before the stretch was halted by Liotopoulos' second triple of the evening, 26-25.

In the final five minutes of the opening stanza, the Bulldogs stretched their advantage to seven after Evan Haywood nailed a triple. The Red Storm struck right back as Mitchell collected a steal finding Sellers on the break for a contested lay-up at the bucket. Joson Sanon bottomed one from long-range and Ejiofor tallied an and one as St. John's knotted the scoreline, 38-38, with 2:40 on the clock. The Johnnies receive a huge boost from the reserve unit logging 22 bench points in the opening half.

Out of a timeout on the final possession of the first half trailing by three, Liotopoulos drove the baseline and kicked it to the corner for Prey to bury a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, 42-42.

As the second half got underway Hopkins dialed one in from downtown to take St. John's first lead since the 9:10 mark in the first half, 45-44. Hopkins continued his strong start to the latter stanza finishing a spinning lay-up to cap off a 9-2 scoring run with 16:40 remaining, 51-46. The graduate student kept making an impact intercepting a pass sending him off to the races for a rim-rattling dunk as the Red Storm lead grew to seven, 55-48, at the 14:36 mark forcing a Butler timeout. Hopkins scored nine points during a 14-4 run early in the latter stanza.

Prey finished through contact and got the roll as the Johnnies advantage stretched to as many as nine, 59-50, with 12:32 to go. After the Bulldogs climbed back within five, 59-54, Hopkins ignited a 9-0 run to blow the game open. Jackson sent home a deep triple and Mitchell picked off a pass for a breakaway finish during the spurt as the Johnnies ran out to a 68-54 cushion with 7:29 remaining.

After the Bulldogs responded with a 3-pointer, Ejiofor and Hopkins combined for the next six points as the Red Storm advantage ballooned to its largest of the night, holding a 17-point lead, 74-57, with 5:37 remaining.

Over the final five minutes, St. John's pushed the lead to 17 on five more occasions and coasted to a victory. With the win, the Red Storm improved to 3-1 in conference play for the third straight season under Head Coach Rick Pitino.

St. John's will be back in action when it heads back to the Midwest for another road battle against Creighton on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.