By LARRY FLEISHER
Kadary Richmond scored a season-high 24 factors, together with the tiebreaking jumper with three seconds left, and No. 15 St. John’s held off Windfall 68-66 on Saturday after blowing a 19-point lead within the last 9 minutes.
RJ Luis Jr. added 19 factors and eight rebounds for the Pink Storm (19-3, 10-1 Large East), off to this system’s finest begin in 39 years. They’ve gained eight straight video games and 14 of 15.
St. John’s took a half-game lead within the convention standings over No. 9 Marquette, scheduled to host No. 25 UConn on Saturday night time.
Jabri Abdur-Rahim had a season-high 27 factors off the bench to assist Windfall (11-11, 5-6) rally at Madison Sq. Backyard. He hit two of his eight 3-pointers throughout the livid comeback earlier than Bensley Joseph made a tying 3 with 33 seconds left — his solely basket of the sport.
Richmond shot 10 of 14 from the sphere and completed with eight rebounds and eight assists. Ejiofor had 13 factors for St. John’s, which shot 38% from the ground.
Takeaways
Windfall: Entered averaging 12 turnovers per sport however matched that whole within the first half and completed with 20 general.
St. John’s: Level guard Deivon Smith seemed rusty at instances after lacking three of the earlier 4 video games with a proper shoulder harm. He shot 1 for 10 from the sphere and completed with three factors and 6 assists in 28 minutes off the bench.
Key second
Corey Floyd Jr. and Abdur-Rahim made consecutive 3s that pulled Windfall to 62-61 with 2:21 remaining.
Key stat
Windfall’s high two scorers, Joseph and Pierre, mixed for less than 14 factors on 5-of-23 capturing.
Up subsequent
Windfall hosts Creighton on Wednesday. St. John’s performs Marquette on Tuesday night time at MSG earlier than visiting UConn on Friday.
Initially Printed: February 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM EST
