St. John’s wanted a basket.
Almost 4 minutes into Saturday’s sport towards Seton Corridor, the Crimson Storm had missed all 9 of their pictures and dedicated three turnovers.
It was an unsightly begin towards a lesser opponent on a day No. 7 St. John’s may clinch its first outright Massive East regular-season championship in 40 years, and a sellout crowd at Madison Sq. Backyard was getting stressed.
Enter RJ Luis Jr.
Popping out of a timeout, Luis shook unfastened, acquired a cross from Sadiku Ibine Ayo, and exploded to the basket for a two-handed dunk, giving St. John’s its first factors on the 16:17 mark within the opening half.
That turned out to be a theme within the Crimson Storm’s 71-61 win.
Luis stepped up with a team-high 21 factors on 7-of-13 capturing on a day the remainder of St. John’s went simply 16-of-40 (40%) from the sector.
His 14 factors earlier than halftime gave St. John’s a four-point benefit on the break, whereas his one-handed dunk with 6:43 left within the second half served as a dagger because the Crimson Storm lastly pulled away.
As he has all season, Luis rose to the event as St. John’s improved to 26-4, together with 17-2 in Massive East play, and wrapped up the convention crown.
Luis, a junior in his second 12 months in this system, leads St. John’s with 17.9 factors per sport in what’s been a breakout season.
After spending his freshman 12 months at Massachusetts, the 6-7 guard transferred to St. John’s following head coach Rick Pitino’s hiring.
“I came here to challenge myself and to try to take my game to the next level, and obviously try to win at the highest level, which Coach Pitino knows how to do really well,” Luis stated Saturday.
Luis averaged 10.9 factors per sport in 23 appearances, together with 10 begins, as a sophomore final season, however shin splints restricted his manufacturing. He underwent surgical procedure within the offseason and has loved a principally wholesome 2024-25, although a groin situation saved him out of a Feb. 19 win at DePaul.
Out the highest seven scorers for St. John’s final season, Luis was the one one who returned. However he’s not the one important returnee.
Junior ahead Zuby Ejiofor can also be within the midst of a breakout marketing campaign, averaging 14.0 factors and a team-high 8.0 rebounds.
He has began 29 of the Crimson Storm’s 30 video games after coming off the bench for all however certainly one of his 33 appearances final season. Ejiofor, who spent his freshman 12 months at Kansas, was blocked for taking part in time final season by Joel Soriano and averaged solely 4.3 factors in 11.3 minutes per sport.
Ejiofor, too, delivered a robust efficiency in Saturday’s win, ending with 17 factors on 5-of-10 capturing and a team-high 10 rebounds. No person else on St. John’s scored greater than 10 factors.
“This is a monster of a league, so to see the progress that not only I, myself, have had individually, but the whole team from year one to year two under Coach Pitino is something that’s indescribable,” Ejiofor stated.
It was becoming that Luis and Ejiofor got here up massive on the day St. John’s clinched the Massive East title.
“Zuby and RJ came back,” Pitino stated. “They’ve been stars all year, the two of them. They don’t have up-and-down games, because Zuby may not shoot the ball well but he’ll have 10 or 11 rebounds. I’m proud of those two guys.”
SCOTT WATCH
St. John’s suffered an harm scare Saturday when senior guard Aaron Scott checked out on the 17:10 mark of the primary half and didn’t return.
However Pitino expressed optimism about Scott shifting ahead.
“He was limping,” Pitino stated. “First transition on defense, he started limping. The trainer told me he was 70, 80%, and I found out real quickly he wasn’t 70, 80%. We had to go with [Ayo], and he did a solid job. Hopefully we’ll get [Scott] back for next week’s game.”
The 6-7 Scott made his twenty fifth begin of the season Saturday and is among the many Johnnies’ greatest wing defenders. Ayo scored eight factors and corralled 5 rebounds in half-hour in his absence.
St. John’s doesn’t play once more till subsequent Saturday at Marquette.
