Johnnies Down DePaul in BIG EAST Opener
QUEENS, N.Y. – Joel Soriano registered his NCAA-leading eighth double-double, finishing with 17 points and 14 boards, to help lead the St. John’s men’s basketball team to an 86-67 victory over DePaul (5-4, 0-1) in its BIG EAST opener on Wednesday. With the wire-to-wire victory, St. John’s has won seven-straight at Carnesecca Arena this season and improves to 9-1 overall.
In total, five Johnnies recorded double-figures, as St. John’s shot 50.8 percent (33-65 FG) from the field and converted 15-of-19 attempts at the free-throw line. Soriano buried five of his eight field goal attempts and went 7-for-8 at the line. The senior center from Yonkers also blocked two shots.
Andre Curbelo shot 7-for-9 from the field for 15 points, adding five assists and three steals to his final line. Posh Alexander registered 13 points, six boards, six assists and a trio of steals in 34 minutes of work.
St. John’s junior wing David Jones tallied 11 points and eight boards against his old team while Montez Mathis shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor and hit a pair of 3-pointers to finish with 10 points.
The Johnnies recorded 50 of their 86 points inside the paint and outrebounded DePaul, 45-35.
St. John’s (9-1, 1-0) was locked in from the opening tip. The Red Storm rushed out to a 12-0 lead by converting on six of its first nine field goal attempts and holding the Blue Demons without a basket through the first 5:15 of the contest.
Over the next four minutes, DePaul managed to cut the Red Storm’s lead down to five. Rafael Pinzon answered by knocking down his first shot off the bench, a 3-pointer that pushed St. John’s edge back to 21-13. With just under nine minutes to go in the first half, Pinzon finished at the rim courtesy of an assist by Dylan Addae-Wusu to spark an 11-2 run that gave the Johnnies a 15-point cushion with 4:19 on the clock. Pinzon finished with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting to go with four rebounds and two assists. Addae-Wusu had six points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 17 minutes off the bench.
The Red Storm took a 40-29 advantage into halftime with Soriano leading the way with 12 points and six boards at the break.
St. John’s scored five quick points to start the second half, as Curbelo banked one off the glass and in before Mathis drained a triple from the corner, pushing the Red Storm ahead 45-29. DePaul cut its deficit down to as little as nine at the 13:35 mark, but the Johnnies ceased any momentum the Blue Demons had with a Soriano slam and Addae-Wusu’s step around floater to take a 58-45 advantage.
The Red Storm pushed its lead to as many as 24 over the final 10 minutes before knocking off the Blue Demons, 86-67.
St. John’s smothered DePaul defensively, holding Blue Demons’ leading scorer and reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week Javan Johnson to 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting. The Iowa State transfer entered the contest averaging 18.4 points per game.
The Red Storm will look to extend its non-conference winning streak at Carnesecca Arena to 25 games on Saturday when it hosts New Hampshire. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.