NEW YORK – RJ Luis Jr. scored 21 points and No. 7 St. John’s beat Seton Hall 71-61 to clinch its first outright regular-season Big East title since 1985 on Saturday.
The Red Storm (26-4, 17-2) improved to 18-0 at home as they played in front of their third straight sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden and with coach Rick Pitino sporting a white suit for the second straight season.
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St. John’s moved the game to MSG after it was initially scheduled to be played on campus but opted not to cut down the nets to celebrate. After finishing off the win, a montage of highlights played while the team was presented with the trophy for clinching the title as confetti was rained and Pitino gave a brief speech thanking the fans and said: “We're just getting started.”
Zuby Ejiofor added 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Red Storm shot 43.4% and struggled until the final minutes.
Dylan Addae-Wusu scored 18 for Seton Hall (7-22, 2-16), which is concluding its worst season since 1982-83. Isaiah Coleman added 15 for the Pirates.
Takeaways
Seton Hall: The Pirates have been competitive of late and lost for the third straight game by 10 points or fewer.
St. John's: Free-throw shooting has been troublesome at times for St. John’s and the Red Storm shot 63.6%.
Key moment
After struggling through most of the first half and taking a four-point lead, St. John’s allowed Seton Hall to get within one point six times before gradually taking control. Luis converted a monstrous one-handed dunk off a Seton Hall turnover for a 59-52 lead with 6:43 left.
Key stat
The Red Storm entered averaging 11 turnovers and finished with 16.
Up next
Seton Hall hosts Creighton on Tuesday. St. John’s visits Marquette on March 8.
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