It was a sprint to the finish for the St. John’s basketball team and they did not miss its second chance to pounce in the starting blocks.
The Johnnies landed its first NCAA Tournament win since 2000 behind a 15-4 run to begin the second half, defeating Omaha 83-53
It started with an RJ Luis 3-pointer and was followed by a 5-second inbounds violation. Kadary Richmond added a layup, a triple from Aaron Scott, and the Red Storm finally got rolling.
It was punctuated by an alley-oop from Simeon Wilcher to Luis that made the Amica Mutual Pavilion sound like Madison Square Garden and once St. John’s got rolling there was nothing the Mavericks could do.
"We didn't play particularly well because they were tough team to guard," Rick Pitino said.
Luis, the Big East Player of the Year, was the star. He finished with 22 points with five made 3-pointers, in which he started 5-of-6 from distance.
The lead grew to as many as 25 points, 66-41, in midway through the second half before the Red Storm got sloppy and started to take its foot off the gas, yet it would have one more finishing kick to drop the hammer.
The Red Storm shot 51.4-percent in the second half, doubling up Omaha by outscoring the Mavericks 50-25, with eight 3-pointers and made 14 3-pointers for the game, setting a new program tournament record after hitting 10 triples against Indiana in 1999.
"It's the road to the National Championship, we got one down and five to go," Zuby Ejiofor said.
Omaha, who relied on its offense for success entering the game, shot just 25.7-percent – a season worst.
It was an ugly beginning, but Luis attributed it to nerves in many of the players first NCAA Tournament game. It was apparent they were much more loose in the second half.
St. John’s missed its first five shots and dug a 7-point deficit, but had a usual response despite it not being who you’d think it would be. Deivon Smith, Simeon, Wilcher, and Ruben Prey hit three consecutive triples during a 16-2 run that brought the Red Storm from down four to up eight.
The end of the half mimicked the beginning but a conventional 3-point play from Vince Iwuchukwu pushed the lead to five, 33-28, at halftime.
It sets up as highly of an anticipated Round of 32 matchup in recent memory in the NCAA Tournament as Rick Pitino will lead the Johnnies against John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.