St. John’s almost blew a 19-point second-half lead, however Kadary Richmond would not enable it.
The fifth-year senior Crimson Storm guard scored 24 factors, together with the successful jumper from the free-throw line with three seconds remaining to provide Related Press No. 15 St. John’s (NY) (19-3, 10-1 in Massive East) a 68-66 win over Windfall.
St. John’s led 53-34 earlier than Windfall (11-11, 5-6 in Massive East) climbed again into the sport with an eight-minute 32-13 prolonged run to arrange Richmond’s winner.
The win retains St. John’s firmly within the combine for a Massive East regular-season title in Rick Pitino’s second season main this system. The Crimson Storm have not gained an outright Massive East regular-season championship since 1984-85.
Richmond has been a key think about St. John’s success. Getting into Saturday, he’s the crew’s third-highest scorer (11.3 factors per recreation). He transferred from Seton Corridor throughout the offseason after being named first-team All-Massive East in 2023-24.
This season, he has a career-best 48.1 p.c taking pictures proportion, which is able to enhance together with his 10-of-14 efficiency on Saturday. St. John’s wanted Richmond’s sizzling hand in opposition to Windfall. The eight different gamers who tried a subject purpose shot 16-of-54 (29.6 p.c).
The Crimson Storm are No. 15 in the newest AP ballot, their highest rank since Dec. 29, 2014.
Pitino, employed in March 2023 after three seasons at Iona, has St. John’s on its strategy to its first NCAA Event look since 2019. St. John’s hasn’t gained an NCAA Event recreation since 2000, the final time it gained the Massive East Event.
Per ESPN males’s basketball match bracketologist Joe Lunardi, St. John’s is a projected 7-seed on this yr’s March Insanity. The Storm will be capable of enhance their seeding with a powerful ultimate month of the common season.
St. John’s performs No. 9 Marquette (18-3, 9-1 in Massive East) and two-time defending nationwide champion No. 25 UConn (15-6, 7-3 in Massive East) twice apiece in its ultimate 9 video games, together with back-to-back with the 2 groups starting Tuesday in opposition to the Golden Eagles (6:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports activities 1).
