St. John’s wins first Big East Tournament since 2000 with second-half surge vs. Creighton

NEW YORK — The last time St. John’s won the Big East Tournament, RJ Luis Jr. wasn’t born yet.

Neither were Zuby Ejiofor or Kadary Richmond.

Rick Pitino was coaching the Boston Celtics — a job he held before his stints with Louisville, Greece’s Panathinaikos, Iona and, finally, St. John’s.

But on Saturday night, that group further restored the resurgent Red Storm to glory.

Top-seeded St. John’s defeated second-seeded Creighton, 82-66, in the Big East Tournament championship game at Madison Square Garden, adding another achievement to one of the greatest seasons in school history.

No. 6 St. John’s (30-4) made 14 consecutive field goals during an incredible run to pull away in the second half, clinching its first Big East Tournament championship since 2000 and the fourth in school history.

Luis, the Big East Player of the Year, came up huge on the biggest stage, scoring 27 of his game-high 29 points after halftime.

Ejiofor added 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, and Richmond finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

And once again, they did it in comeback fashion.

St. John’s fell behind, 10-2, as rim-protecting Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner, a four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year, patrolled the paint.

The Johnnies repeatedly settled for — and missed — mid-range jumpers and 3-point attempts during an ugly first half in which they shot just 11 of 33 from the field.

Kalkbrenner’s presence proved particularly problematic early for Ejiofor, who, at 6-9, is four inches shorter than the 7-1 center. Ejiofor, who scored 33 points in Friday’s semifinal win over Marquette, went 3 of 8 for seven points in the first half.

Luis had failed to pick up the slack to that point, managing only two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half. But the Johnnies’ hounding defense kept them in the game, and they trailed only 28-25 at the break.

And then St. John’s erupted.

Luis’ 3-pointer at the 14:26 mark of the second half knotted the score, 38-38, to tie the game for the first time since it was scoreless.

Ejiofor converted a three-point play two possessions later, marking the first of the Red Storm’s 14 consecutive makes.

Vince Iwuchukwu’s left-handed floater over Kalkbrenner on the next possession gave St. John’s its first lead, 43-41, with 11:55 to go.

And Luis capped that run without a miss by making a layup with 5:16 to go, putting the Red Storm up, 70-55.

Less than three minutes later, a sellout crowd decidedly in the Johnnies’ favor chanted “MVP” as Luis shot free throws. It was technically a neutral-site game, but with the win, St. John’s improved to 12-0 at the Garden.

St. John’s advanced to its first Big East Tournament title game in 25 years after cruising to a 78-57 victory over ninth-seeded Butler in Thursday’s quarterfinal round and then rallying from a 15-point deficit in Friday’s 79-63 semifinal win over Marquette.

With Saturday’s win, Pitino further delivered on the promise he made two years ago at his introductory press conference at the Garden, where he vowed St. John’s was “going to be back.”

It was a bold guarantee, even for a Hall of Fame coach with two national championships and seven Final Four appearances to his name.

But it took only two years for Pitino to turn St. John’s around.

The Johnnies went 27-4 in the regular season, including 18-2 in conference play, to claim their first outright Big East regular-season conference championship since 1985. Saturday clinched their first 30-win season since 1985-86.

After the regular season, Pitino suggested that winning the Big East Tournament could propel the Red Storm to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

On Sunday, St. John’s will find out its seed and its opponent to begin the Big Dance. It will be the Red Storm’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.

And then St. John’s will then get to work on ending another decades-long drought. It has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000.

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