St. John’s Suffers Setback
QUEENS, N.Y. (Feb. 1, 2023) – The St John’s men’s basketball team fell to Seton Hall, 84-72, on Wednesday at Carnesecca Arena.
For the fifth time in his last six games, AJ Storr scored double figures, posting a team-high 15 points. The reigning BIG EAST Freshman of the Week shot 3-for-6 from deep to go with three boards and a pair of blocks.
Posh Alexander returned to the lineup after missing two games due to injury. The junior guard tallied 11 points, four rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes off the Red Storm bench. David Jones added 11 points, going 4-for-9 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers.
Al-Amir Dawes led Seton Hall (14-9, 7-5 BIG EAST) with a game-high 21 points and hit four 3-pointers. Pirates’ junior guard Kadary Richmond registered a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds to go with seven assists.
St. John’s (14-9, 4-8 BIG EAST) opened a 13-point lead on the Pirates in the first half. The Johnnies buried their first five 3-point attempts before Storr knocked down a pair of free-throws to cap a 23-5 run that put St. John’s up 33-20 with 4:19 left in the half.
The Pirates rallied back within one before the end of the half, hitting a trio of 3-pointers on a 12-0 run before a late Alexander layup sent the game into the break with a three-point St. John’s lead, 35-32.
Storr registered 10 points in the first half, hitting a pair of threes and all four of his free-throw attempts. Esahia Nyiwe gave St. John’s energy off the bench, scoring five of his season-high eight points in the first 20 minutes. The senior forward finished with four blocks.
After missing its first seven shots to open the second half and seeing Seton Hall take its first lead since midway through the first, Jones and Storr hit back-to-back treys to jumpstart a 13-4 spurt. Jones finished the run with a three-point play that put the Red Storm ahead by six, 52-46, with 12:21 remaining.
Dawes answered for the Pirates hitting three of his four made 3-pointers over a two-minute stretch, which was part of a larger 20-6 run that gave Seton Hall a seven-point edge, 66-59, with 6:45 remaining.
Despite seeing Joel Soriano rattle off seven of the team’s final 11 points, the Pirates proved to be too much down the stretch as they staved off a Red Storm comeback with a 12-point victory.
Seton Hall scored 28 points off turnovers and 42 of its 84 points came in the paint.
The Red Storm will hit the road for back-to-back contests, heading to Cincinnati to take on No. 16/15 Xavier on Saturday.