It felt a little bit like last season.
A big deficit. Nothing going right. And out of nowhere, St. John’s woke up, playing like its life was on the line.
There was no Kadary Richmond or RJ Luis. Instead, it was Dillon Mitchell and Dylan Darling leading the charge in erasing a 15-point deficit to pull out a gutty 65-60 victory at the Garden over rival Seton Hall on Tuesday night, extending their winning streak to five.
On a night when Zuby Ejiofor didn’t have it and the starting backcourt of Oziyah Sellers and Ian Jackson were non-factors, the Red Storm found it late.
Trailing by 15 early in the second half, they outscored Seton Hall, 33-13, over the final 15:39. It marked St. John’s biggest comeback of the season.
Mitchell gave St. John’s (14-5, 7-1) the lead for good with 4:53 left and Darling’s steal and basket with 1:10 remaining pushed the lead to five.
Ejiofor hit three key free throws in the final 1:21, as the Red Storm won for the 10th time in 12 games to remain all alone in second place in the Big East.
Mitchell led St. John’s with 17 points and 11 rebounds, Bryce Hopkins added 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Darling chipped in eight points and three steals.
Defense won the game with St. John’s forcing 13 Seton Hall turnovers and holding it to 28 percent shooting in the second half.
Seton Hall led by six at halftime, and the difference could’ve been wider. The Pirates were the more desperate team. They played with an edge and had their way over the first 20 minutes.
Seton Hall was plus-eight on the glass and had 12 offensive rebounds on 18 missed shots, leading to 10 second-chance points.
St. John’s made just one 3-pointer and received only a single point from Sellers, Jackson and Sanon. The Pirates, meanwhile, hit four 3-pointers on six attempts after going 4-for-33 from distance in their previous two games.
The second half began ugly. Seton Hall scored the first nine points and was up 15 before St. John’s finally got a shot to fall. They started 0-for-6 from the field with three turnovers.
Then, St. John’s flipped a switch, turning the clock back to last season to keep the good vibes going.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
