St. John's rallies to win Big East Tournament title, earns NCAA bid
NEW YORK (AP) — RJ Luis Jr. scored all but two of his 29 points after halftime and No. 6 St. John's made 14 straight shots from the field in the second half to beat Creighton 82-66 on Saturday night for its first Big East Tournament title in 25 years.
Zuby Ejiofor added 20 points and Kadary Richmond had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the top-seeded Red Storm (30-4), who reached 30 wins for the third time in program history before a roaring hometown crowd at sold-out Madison Square Garden.
They earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for their first trip since 2019, making 72-year-old Hall of Famer Rick Pitino the first coach to take six schools to the Big Dance.
The others were Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona.
“For all the St. John's fans, this is for you!” Pitino proclaimed during a postgame interview on the court, pausing to remove falling confetti from his lips. “St. John's is New York's team!”
Pitino, in his second season with the Johnnies, also became the first coach to win the Big East Tournament at two schools. He’s won three times in his last four seasons in the league, after guiding Louisville to championships in 2009, 2012 and 2013.
“I saved the best for last,” Pitino said to loud cheers from the crowd of 19,812.
Luis, the Big East Player of the Year, also grabbed 10 rebounds and was selected the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He was draped in a Dominican Republic flag as fans chanted “MVP! MVP!” after the game.
“I'm so excited. I couldn't be more blessed for this opportunity,” Luis said. “We're going to keep on going.”
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 15 for second-seeded Creighton (24-10), which fell to 0-5 in Big East championship games since joining the conference for the 2013-14 season.
It was the fourth Big East Tournament title for the Johnnies, who made the championship game for the first time since winning the 2000 trophy under Mike Jarvis. The previous two came in the 1980s under Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca, who died Nov. 30 about five weeks shy of his 100th birthday.
Luis was whistled for his second foul with 7:19 left before halftime and sat out the rest of the half.
After falling behind by eight early, St. John’s finally took its first lead at 43-41 with 11:55 remaining when backup big man Vince Iwuchukwu scored left-handed in the post over the 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner, the four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year.
That came 33 seconds after Ejiofor converted a tying three-point play that began a streak of 14 consecutive made field goals for the Johnnies, giving them to a 70-55 lead. Several were fast-break layups, although Luis drained a pair of 3-pointers and Aaron Scott nailed one of his own before Ejiofor finally missed a jumper with less than five minutes left.
By then, the Red Storm had gone more than 7 1/2 minutes without missing a shot, and they connected on 17 of their final 19 field goal attempts. Quite an offensive display for a team that entered the game shooting 45% from floor.