Zuby Ejiofor totaled 21 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists as No. 22 St. John’s extended its winning streak to nine games in an 81-72 victory over No. 3 UConn in front of an electric sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden Friday night in New York.
The win marked St. John’s first victory over a top-3 team at MSG since defeating No. 3 Duke on Jan. 30, 2011, and it’s the first time St. John’s has won three consecutive games against UConn since the 1999-2000 season.
Ejiofor posted his fifth double-double and shot 6 of 10 from the field and often exploited his matchup with UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr, helping the Red Storm (17-5, 11-1 Big East) move within a half-game of the first-place Huskies (22-2, 12-1).
Tied at 45 in the second half, the senior center scored seven points in a 15-4 surge and staked the Red Storm to a 60-49 lead with 10:24 remaining.
After that point, St John’s fended off UConn’s comeback attempt that saw the Huskies cut the lead to 66-65 on a layup by Silas Demary Jr. with 4:46 left and 69-67 on a hoop by Alex Karaban with 3:39 left.
Following Karaban’s basket, Dylan Darling hit a 3 over Solo Ball and Ejiofor went around Reed for another hoop to put St. John’s up 74-67 with 2:27 left. The Red Storm finished off their third straight win over UConn by hitting five free throws in the final 57 seconds.
Dillon Mitchell added 15 as the Red Storm outscored the Huskies 42-33 in the final 20 minutes. Bryce Hopkins contributed 14 as the Red Storm shot 50% and gave coach Rick Pitino his 903rd career win to tie Roy Williams for third most all-time.
Demary led the Huskies with 18 points and Karaban added 17 as the duo combined to shoot 14-for-21 from the floor. Reed contributed 12 and Braylon Mullins chipped in 11 as the Huskies lost despite shooting 54.7% and saw their 18-game winning streak come to an end.
The Huskies held a 16-10 lead on a layup by Reed with 13:50 left in the first half before St. John’s scored nine straight for a 19-16 edge on a dunk by Oziyah Sellers a little over two minutes later. The Red Storm pushed their lead to 23-17 on two free throws by Ejiofor with 10:10 left and UConn answered back, taking a 26-25 lead on a Mullins’ 3 with 7:26 remaining.
After St. John’s took a pair of four-point leads, the Huskies forged a 39-39 deadlock by halftime on a drive by Demary with 15 seconds left.
