NEW YORK, NY — It was close and not pretty for No. 18 ranked St. John’s Tuesday night, but the Red Storm got the job done, sneaking by the Georgetown Hoyas, 72-69, in a tightly contested battle that came right down to the wire at Madison Square Garden.
Despite trailing for more than 75% of the game, 32:08 to be exact, and by 12 points with 14:08 minutes remaining in regulation, St. John’s, celebrating Senior Night in their final home game of the regular season, still escaped MSG with a victory.
“It was a great win for us, senior nights are very difficult emotionally for players,” said Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino, later adding, “We had to really dig deep because we didn’t have it to win and that’s what it’s all about with a good basketball team, digging down.”
Buckling down in crunch-time to carry the load was senior Zuby Ejiofor, the leader of the St. John’s Men’s Basketball program, who deservingly earned a standing ovation in a pregame ceremony alongside his family—as well as sophomore Joson Sanon and junior Dylan Darling.
Ejiofor, producing 23 points on the night, had 13 in the second half while Sanon dropped all 15 of his points in the final 20 minutes, a Big East season game-high.
“That’s the Joson (Sanon) that we need each and every night,” Ejiofor said of Sanon’s shooting display—5-11 from the field and 3-8 from behind the arc.
“That’s exactly how he is in practice, one of the better shooters on our team and he was able to make big-time buckets. Down the stretch and attack closeouts as well because he’s a deadly shooter.”
For Darling, who was deadly on both ends, he scored (12 points), facilitated (three assists), and locked down on defense, recording four steals, a season-high.
St. John’s Dylan Darling came up clutch on both ends down the stretch in Tuesday night’s win vs. Georgetown at Madison Square Garden – Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball
Though as the three aforementioned Johnnies stepped up, the Hoyas still had one final chance to tie it up on a Caleb Williams three-point weave at the buzzer, contested closely by Bryce Hopkins, that bounced off the back of the rim to end the game, resulting in all of 14,319 in the building to finally be able to catch their breath.
As the Johnnies secured their 24th win of the year and 17th in Big East play to move to 24-6 overall and 17-2 in conference matchups, Pitino and the Red Storm are now neck-and-neck with the No. 6 ranked UConn Huskies for the regular season Big East Conference title, with a chance to clinch a share of the regular season championship by defeating the Seton Hall Pirates this Friday night in Newark, New Jersey.
Zuby’s Night
Although Tuesday at MSG was a night to celebrate each senior and senior student managers, the overwhelming cheers and applause from the crowd was all for Ejiofor, who is forever entrenched in St. John’s history, as Pitino and many others have continued to harp on. During a time of the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) era where there is constant movement from school to school, Ejiofor remained true to his roots after landing in Queens from Kansas University following his freshman year.
Three years later, he is now amongst the all-time greats to have ever wear a St. John’s uniform.
In an era of NIL where there is constant movement year on year in College Basketball, Zuby Ejiofor chose a different route and stayed at St. John’s for three seasons with head coach Rick Pitino – Image Credit: Tomasso DeRosa/Latino Sports
On the Senior Night celebration and being honored by thousands of Johnnies fans in attendance, Ejiofor, compiling 23 points, seven boards, five assists, two steals and two blocks in the win, said:
“It was an emotional night. It was everything that I thought it would be and I appreciate them. My family was obviously out there as well and guys were saying I was going to cry, but there was no tears shed. It was special.”
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