The St. John’s basketball team has shown a toughness all season long – it’s been the calling card for Rick Pitino’s team – but Friday night at Madison Square Garden was different.
The Johnnies were hit with a right hook from Kam Jones to begin the game, scoring 13 points in six minutes that helped the Golden Eagles get out to a 15-point lead, 24-9, in the Big East Tournament Semifinal.
It could have unraveled for the Red Storm, but, as always, they responded and did so on the back of its captain Zuby Ejiofor.
Ejiofor was solid in the first half, scoring 10 points with five rebounds as St. John’s trailed by a bucket, 39-37, but catapulted himself into conference tournament history in the second half – scoring 23 points – to finish with 33 points in the Red Storm’s 79-63 victory.
“The big dog over here was tremendous,” Pitino said about Ejiofor.
“I don’t know what was better, his play or his leadership tonight. They were both pretty extraordinary.”
The scoring mark set a Big East Tournament record for a St. John’s player and was the most points in the league’s semifinal since Kemba Walker in 2011.
Ejiofor’s 3-point play with 7:50 remaining in the second half was key in St. John’s stopping a brief Marquette run and push the Johnnies lead back to eight, 62-54. He had scored or assisted on 17 straight points for the Red Storm that took its lead from eight to 14.
“It was just an amazing feeling,” Ejiofor explained. “It’s been a crazy year.”
He was 11-of-15 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the free throw line while falling one rebound shy of a double-double with nine rebounds and three assists.
St. John’s outscored Marquette 70-39 after digging its first half deficit to clinch its first spot in the Big East Tournament Championship since 2000.
The Red Storm will play either UConn or Creighton on Saturday night (6:30 p.m. ET, FOX).