The film will not be on display anytime soon at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, but the St. John’s basketball team won’t complain too much since it resulted in a much-needed victory.
The No. 23 Red Storm held off Ole Miss 63-58 inside Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, snapping a seven-game losing streak against SEC programs that dated back to 2012.
It started and finished ugly for the Johnnies (5-3), who connected on just 34.0-percent of its shots from the field and 18.2-percent from 3-point range – the lowest mark in both categories of the season.
“This was a great example for our players,” head coach Rick Pitino said after the game.
“They didn’t have it tonight offensively, but they can realize, to play our poorest offensive game, but to still win that was the greatest lesson to take away.”
St. John’s took a 14-point lead, 51-37, with 8:06 remaining on a 3-pointer from Sadiku Ibine Ayo before the Rebels (5-4) responded with a 10-0 run to put themselves back within striking distance with 5:09 left.
While the entire Red Storm team got tight, two players rose to the occasion and prevented a disastrous loss – Zuby Ejiofor and Dylan Darling.
The duo scored the final 11 of the team’s final 12 points in the final 4:42 to close out the win.
“I just try to be a steady presence out there, especially at the end of the game when it gets a little chaotic,” Darling said.
His spinning layup with 4:00 left was his only made basket of the game, but it gave the Johnnies an eight-point, 55-47, lead at the moment. He finished with seven points, two rebounds, and two assists.
For a team that didn’t have anything on this night, Ejiofor was a dominant presence with 15 points, nine rebounds, eight blocks, and three steals. He became just the fourth player ever in program history to record at least eight blocks in a game, joining Chris Obekpa, Sir’Dominic Pointer, and Tariq Owens.
Ole Miss shot just 36.4-percent from the floor and 2-of-16 from 3-point range, missing 13 consecutive shots from deep after hitting its first attempt of the game.
St. John’s looked like it was going to put the game away early, leading by 15 points with 3:59 to go in the first half before allowing Ole Miss to enter the locker room on a 7-0 run.
However, despite the struggles of the Red Storm it never surrendered its lead after the 13:45 mark of the first half.
It’ll be another week off for St. John’s as they prepare for Pitino’s old school, Iona, at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, December 13 which starts a very important week for the program.