QUEENS, N.Y. (Oct. 21, 2023) – The St. John's men's basketball team outlasted Rutgers, 89-78, in double-overtime on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena in a charity exhibition game benefiting the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund at the V Foundation.
St. John’s graduate student Nahiem Alleyne scored a game-high 19 points and drained four 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beating triple to force double-overtime. Glenn Taylor Jr. scored seven of the team’s first nine points in the second overtime to help the Johnnies pull away from the Scarlet Knights. Taylor, a junior guard who transferred from Oregon State, finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The Red Storm had all five of its starters register double figures in scoring on Saturday. In addition to Alleyne and Taylor, senior center Joel Soriano posted 12 points and 16 rebounds, while Daniss Jenkins scored 13 points to go with nine assists and Chris Ledlum added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
St. John’s stormed out of the gate, opening a 41-23 lead by halftime. After Rutgers scored the first bucket of the game, St. John’s rallied for the next 11 points to claim an advantage it would maintain for most of regulation. The Red Storm also closed the half strong, going on a 14-4 run and its defense held the Scarlet Knights without a field goal for the final nine minutes and scoreless for the last five minutes of the stanza.
Jenkins paced the Johnnies with 10 points, shooting 3-for-6 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes of action. Red shirt sophomore forward Drissa Traore also gave St. John’s a boost off the bench by scoring five of his eight points before intermission.
In the second half, St. John’s built its lead as large as 20 with a pair of free-throws by Zuby Ejiofor, who gave the Johnnies a 43-23 advantage with 19:33 remaining. However, the Scarlet Knights countered with a couple of 6-0 spurts to nearly cut the Red Storm’s advantage in half over the next five minutes. After starting the game 0-12 from distance as a team, Rutgers got back-to-back triples from Gavin Griffiths to pull within 48-37 at the 14:29 mark.
Later in the stanza, Scarlet Knights’ guard Noah Fernandes scored five straight points to cap off a 7-0 run that gave Rutgers a 61-60 advantage with 3:44 to go in regulation. From that point, neither team led by more than three points until the Johnnies pulled away in double-overtime.
Trailing 67-66 with 17 seconds remaining in regulation, Taylor evened the game for St. John’s with a free-throw before Ledlum blocked Griffiths’ attempt with seconds remaining to help force overtime.
In the first extra frame, Alleyne scored six of the Red Storm’s eight points, including the clutch 3-pointer setup by an offensive rebound and kickout by Ledlum to knot the game at 75-75 with 0.1 seconds remaining.
Taylor Jr. shined in the second overtime, as the 6-foot-6 guard opened the frame with a 3-pointer and then hit a pair of free-throws to get the Johnnies’ final offensive surge going. Soriano connected with Jenkins for a pair of alley-oops while Alleyne sank his fourth 3-pointer of the game in double overtime to send the Johnnies off with an 11-point victory.
The Red Storm dished out 21 assists on its 30 made field goals and outrebounded the Rutgers, 57-50.
Rutgers was led by Clifford Omoruyi who scored 16 points and pulled down nine boards. Jamichael Davis also registered 16 points for the Scarlet Knights and Griffiths finished with 14 points.
St. John’s will return to action for its final exhibition on Sunday, Oct. 29, when Pace visits Carnesecca Arena for a 3:30 p.m. tip.
