By Jeysla Gonzalez
3/15/2025
The Red Storm men’s basketball team wins first BIG EAST Tournament title since 2000 and fourth all-time on Saturday at MSG
The Johnnies nailed 14 consecutive field goals during a 32-14 second half run to bring their fourth BIG EAST Tournament title back to Queens (1983, 1986, 2000, 2025). The Red Storm reached the 30-win mark for just the third time in program history and enters the 2025 NCAA Tournament riding a nine-game win streak.
St. John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino became the first coach in BIG EAST history to earn the conference tournament crown at two different schools after winning three titles at Louisville (2009, 2012, 2013). The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer is just the fourth coach in league history to win three titles over a four-year span coaching in the league, joining Jay Wright, Jim Calhoun and John Thompson Jr.
RJ Luis Jr. led all scorers with 29 points, marking the highest scoring total by a Red Storm player in a BIG EAST Tournament title game, surpassing Chris Mullin’s record of 25. Luis exploded for 27 points in the second half. The junior wing was presented the David Gavitt Trophy which is given to the BIG EAST Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. The Miami native’s 29 points was the highest scoring mark in a championship game since Villanova’s Jalen Brunson went for 31 in the 2018 title contest.
Zuby Ejiofor finished with 20 points in Saturday’s championship bout and averaged 26.5 points over the final two games of the tournament. The junior forward set a program record with 31 points on Friday in the Johnnies’ 79-63 victory over Marquette in the semifinal, which was the highest scoring total for a Red Storm player in a BIG EAST Tournament game.
Kadary Richmond added 12 points and 12 rebounds, logging a double-double for the second time in as many games. The graduate student from Brooklyn set a St. John’s record for most rebounds in a BIG EAST Tournament Championship Game.
Both Richmond and Ejiofor were named to the BIG EAST’s All-Tournament Team.
After trailing 28-25 at the break, the Johnnies exploded for 57 points in the second half by shooting a sweltering 71.9 percent (23-32 FG) from the field in the latter stanza. Luis anchored the scoring effort going 10-for-13 from the field, including a 3-for-3 mark from distance, and buried all four free-throw attempts in the final 20 minutes of action.
In the early going, the Bluejays jumped out to an eight-point lead by making seven of their first nine field goal attempts. However, the Johnnies locked in defensively and limited Creighton to a 2-for-15 shooting effort heading into the under four-minute media timeout. Offensively, Sadiku Ibine Ayo and Ejiofor knocked down pivotal triples helping the Red Storm engineer an 8-2 spurt to chop its deficit to one, 22-21. Scott then nailed a mid-range jumper to cut the Red Storm’s deficit to three at the break.
In the second half, Luis knocked down his first of three 3-pointers to tie the score for the first time since the start of the contest. Ejiofor then finished a three-point play to even it once again before Vince Iwuchukwu’s jump hook gave the Red Storm its first lead with 11:55 to play. Richmond continued the surge, going coast-to-coast for a bucket that sent The Garden crowd into a frenzy. Luis knocked down another basket to complete an 11-3 scoring run and put St. John’s ahead by five.
After Creighton trimmed the lead to a single point, the Johnnies scored six-straight points over 46 seconds that was capped by a fastbreak lay-up from Luis to give St. John’s an eight-point advantage. St. John’s remained red-hot as the run ballooned to 18-5 with Luis capping 14 straight makes from the floor by hitting another basket to expand the lead to 15, 70-55, with just over five minutes to go.
The Johnnies coasted the rest of the way and cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden, where they finished with a perfect 12-0 record this season.
St. John’s will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, making their 30th all-time appearance and first since 2019.
