The Red Storm’s Big East title defense didn’t begin in style at Carnesecca Arena on Tuesday night, but they took care of business in a 79-66 victory over the DePaul Blue Demons to begin conference play with a win for the fifth consecutive season.
DePaul hung around for the first nine minutes, something they couldn’t accomplish in their two uncompetitive matchups with the Red Storm a season ago, before a big St. John’s run swayed momentum in the home team’s direction for good.
After a Kaleb Banks mid-range
jumper cut the St. John’s lead to 19-16, the bench trio of Dylan Darling, Ruben Prey, and Lefteris Liotopoulos scored nine straight points before handing off the baton to the starters, who finished off an 18-3 run that gave the Red Storm a 37-19 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half.
Strokes of bad luck (such as a Zuby Ejiofor technical foul midway through the second half) and poor finishing at the rim prevented St. John’s from turning this game into a laugher, but the Red Storm maintained their distance and led by double-digits in the final 11 minutes of play.
Coming off the bench, Dylan Darling shook off an extended shooting slump and looked like a confident and clinical scorer. Darling posted a team-high 17 points off the bench (5-of-9 from the field). Through eight games, Darling has only made one of his 15 three-point attempts this season. On Tuesday night, he was 3-of-5 from three.
Joson Sanon and Ian Jackson were the only other players to score in double-figures for St. John’s. Sanon put up 15 points and nine rebounds to nearly record a double-double, and Jackson tallied 10 points despite only playing in 14 minutes of action.
St. John’s will have a three-day turnaround before they travel to Atlanta and face the Kentucky Wildcats (7-4) in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday, December 20 (12:30 p.m., CBS), which features the much-anticipated coaching duel between Rick Pitino and his former player Mark Pope.
