BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Nov. 21, 2022) – The St. John’s men’s basketball team earned a hard-fought 78-72 victory over Temple (2-3) in the 2022 Empire Classic on Monday at Barclays Center. Montez Mathis recorded a team-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting while Joel Soriano registered his fourth double-double with 15 points and 12 boards to help St. John’s improve to 5-0 on the season. With the win, St. John’s secured a date with former BIG EAST rival Syracuse on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. in the Empire Classic title game.

Andre Curbelo came up clutch for the Red Storm in the semifinal matchup with key buckets in the final 75 seconds of action. After Zach Hicks put the Owls up 72-70 with his third triple of the contest, Curbelo answered with a 3-point play to regain a 73-72 edge with 1:15 to go. Then following Temple’s 21st turnover, Curbelo converted another acrobatic layup 35 seconds later to put the Johnnies up by three. St. John’s sealed the game at the free-throw line as Mathis hit a pair and Soriano added another.

Curbelo finished with 13 points to go with four assists, three steals and one block. David Jones was the fourth St. John’s player to record double figures posting 14 points. The junior wing also pulled down seven rebounds and made four steals.

Posh Alexander registered six points, six assists, six rebounds and two steals for the Johnnies. O’Mar Stanley hit all four of his shot attempts and finished with eight points in 13 minutes off the bench.

As a team, the Red Storm shot 62.1 percent (18-29 FG) from the floor in the second half. St. John’s also recorded 14 steals and outscored the Owls, 52-26, in the paint.

St. John’s got off to a slow shooting start, hitting just five of its first 24 attempts from the field, and fell behind by 13 with 7:31 to play in the first half. Mathis jumpstarted a 20-5 run to close the stanza with back-to-back baskets, including a dunk in transition that cut the St. John’s deficit to single digits with 6:47 on the clock.

After Khalif Battle sank his third 3-pointer of the half to put Temple up 28-20, the Red Storm countered with a 12-2 surge capped by consecutive baskets from Soriano to take a 32-30 lead into the break.

Temple opened the second half on a 10-3 run, but St. John’s quickly returned the favor with a 15-2 stretch of its own, beginning with Jones drawing a foul and sinking the basket. Stanley and Alexander tallied back-to-back buckets before Stanley denied Jahlil White at the rim and propelled the Red Storm in the other direction. On the ensuing possession, Jones pulled up at the three-point line and drained it from distance before Mathis forced an Owl turnover and laid in another basket to put St. John’s up by eight, 50-42, marking its largest lead of the contest.

The Owls, however, would not go away easy and pulled within one, 59-58, at 6:18 in the second half. The Johnnies answered with a 7-0 run of their own to push their lead back to eight, 66-58. Another 10-2 run from the Owls erased the cushion and deadlocked the game at 68.

Mathis recorded a key layup to put St. John’s back up two before four-straight points by Temple set the stage for Curbelo’s heroics.

Jamille Reynolds scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to lead the Owls. Battle finished with 17 points after recording 13 in the opening 20 minutes of action.

St. John’s will meet the Syracuse (3-1) for the first time since a 33-point Red Storm victory on Dec. 21, 2016 at the Carrier Dome.