St. John’s defeats Seton Hall to earn top seed in Big East tourney; UConn will be No. 2
NEWARK, N.J. — Zuby Ejiofor scored 21 points and No. 18 St. John’s held off Seton Hall 72-65 on Friday night to clinch at least a share of its second straight regular-season Big East title.
Bryce Hopkins had 11 points and seven rebounds and Oziyah Sellers had 11 points and five rebounds for the Red Storm (25-6, 18-2 Big East), who have consecutive regular-season titles for the first time in 40 years. They last did it under Lou Carnesecca during the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
Rick Pitino’s Red Storm would win the regular-season crown outright if Marquette defeats Connecticut on Saturday. St. John’s will be the top seed in the Big East Tournament next week on their home court at Madison Square Garden for the second straight year. Fourth-ranked UConn will be the No. 2 seed and play at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Adam Clark led Seton Hall (20-11, 10-10) with 15 points and Najai Hines added 11 points and five rebounds off the bench. The Pirates, who’ll be the No. 4 seed in the Big East Tournament, fell to 0-6 this season against the three teams ahead of them in the conference standings: St. John’s, UConn and Villanova.
The Red Storm entered averaging 82.2 points per game, but were forced to grind out on offense, especially with Ejiofor on the bench in the second half. The senior forward sat for more than eight minutes after he picked up his third foul at the 17:03 mark.
But Sellers (nine second-half points) and Ruben Prey (eight points, three rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench) produced for the Red Storm with Ejiofor sitting.
When Ejiofor returned, he showed why he’s a frontrunner for the Big East Player of the Year award. He scored 12 second-half points and helped the Red Storm shoot 65.2% in the second half.
From breaking news and local politics to art exhibitions, live music, high school sports, small businesses, and cultural events, we celebrate the people and places that make Connecticut unique.