St. John’s rout of UConn puts Storm on brink of Big East regular-season title

The four banners hang between the 8th Avenue and 33rd Street sides of Madison Square Garden.

The first two commemorate the 1952 and 1985 St. John’s Final Four teams. The third celebrates the five NIT championship squads: 1943, 1944, 1959, 1965 and 1989. The last honors legendary coach Lou Carnesecca and his 526 wins with the small Catholic school on the corner of Union Turnpike and Utopia Parkway.

A fifth — and maybe more — could soon join them.

No. 10 St. John’s drew closer to the program’s first Big East regular-season championship since 1992 after outclassing UConn, 89-75, Sunday.

The Red Storm, who improved to 24-4 overall, 15-2 in Big East play and 17-0 at home, came into the game needing a win and Creighton to lose to Georgetown Sunday afternoon to clinch a portion of the Big East regular-season championship.

They took care of the first part by limiting Connecticut (18-9, 10-6) to 39% shooting from the field and 26.1% from three. St. John’s forced UConn into 18 turnovers, which turned into 24 points.

All five starters for the Red Storm scored in double figures. Kadary Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor each had 18. RJ Luis Jr., four days after coach Rick Pitino said the junior was “probably going to miss Connecticut” with a groin injury, was in the starting lineup and added 14. Aaron Scott chipped in with 13, and Deivon Smith finished with 12 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

St. John’s shot 46.9% from the field, 42.1% from three and 77.8% from the foul line.

Among those in the sellout crowd of 19,812 were Spike Lee, John Franco, Mike Repole and Stephon Marbury.

Clad in various shades of red and grey and blue and white, the fans were loud. Every possession was scored by a swirling cacophony that swept from Eighth Avenue to Seventh Avenue and from 31st Street to 33rd Street.

But if they expected to witness an exact reprise of the classic, possession-by-possession Big East brawl both teams authored 16 days earlier in Storrs, which St. John’s won, 68-62, what took place was something entirely different.

The Red Storm, who had a 50-32 lead at halftime, were outscored 21-12 in the first 7:35 of the second half. Alex Karaban scored 11 of his 17 in the stretch, making three threes and converting a layup to cut the Huskies’ deficit to 62-53.

St. John’s responded with a 12-5 spurt over the next 3:20 to extend its lead to 74-58. Richmond made two jumpers and a layup, Ejiofor had a two-handed follow dunk and Luis made two free throws.

The Red Storm emphatically ended any thoughts the two-time defending national champions had about an improbable comeback. It took all of 2:07, beginning with Scott’s two-handed baseline jam, promptly followed by a Simeon Wilcher jumper and an Ejiofor’s putback to push the advantage to 80-61.

St. John’s opened up a 17-point lead late in the first half with the help of an eight-point possession. Luis drilled a three with 4:23 left and on the play, Connecticut’s Samson Johnson was assessed a  Flagrant 1 foul on Ejiofor, who made both free throws. St. John’s retained possession and Scott knocked down a three to extend the lead to 43-26.