Mar 20, 2025; Windfall, RI, USA; St. John’s Pink Storm guard RJ Luis Jr. (12) places up a basket throughout the second half towards the Omaha Mavericks at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Necessary Credit score: Eric Canha-Imagn Photos
RJ Luis Jr. made a career-high 5 3-pointers and second-seeded St. John’s discovered its capturing stroke en path to an 83-53 victory over No. 15 seed Omaha within the first spherical of the NCAA Event on Thursday night time in Windfall, R.I.
St. John’s (31-4) earned its first event win since 2000. Coach Rick Pitino and the Large East champs will face John Calipari and No. 10 seed Arkansas within the second spherical Saturday.
Luis led all scorers with 22 factors and added eight rebounds. He made 5 of 8 makes an attempt from deep as St. John’s — a 30.4 % 3-point capturing crew getting into the night time — matched a season excessive with 14 3-pointers to counter Omaha clogging the lanes.
Simeon Wilcher scored 13 factors for the Pink Storm. Kadary Richmond had 10 factors, eight rebounds and 6 assists, whereas Zuby Ejiofor added 10 factors, seven boards, 4 assists and three blocks.
JJ White posted 15 factors and 5 assists to guide Omaha (22-13), which was enjoying in its first Division I NCAA Event after claiming the Summit League championship.
Marquel Sutton scored 11 for the Mavericks, and Isaac Ondekane pulled down 10 of his 11 rebounds within the first half.
St. John’s missed its first 5 photographs and let Omaha stake out a 7-0 lead, prompting an early timeout from Pitino. After Richmond bought the Pink Storm on the board, Luis scored eight St. John’s factors in a row, bookended by a pair of 3-pointers.
The Mavericks moved forward 20-14 earlier than St. John’s turned the tables. Wilcher lower the lead in half with a 3-pointer, prompting a 16-2 run that featured triples by Deivon Smith, Ruben Prey and one other from Wilcher.
Omaha scored six in a row to chop it to 30-28, however Vince Iwuchukwu bought inside for a bucket that became a three-point play with two seconds left, giving St. John’s a 33-28 halftime edge.
Luis stored the Pink Storm 3-point celebration going by making one 14 seconds into the second half. Teammate Aaron Scott splashed a trey, then Luis and Wilcher went on a two-on-one that led to an alley-oop dunk by Luis, giving St. John’s agency management at 43-30.
Luis knocked down one other two triples at hand St. John’s its first 20-point lead with 13:14 to go. Critically, the Pink Storm had assists on their first eight made area targets of the half whereas committing zero turnovers.
St. John’s held the Mavericks to 7-of-34 field-goal capturing (20.6 %) and outrebounded them 31-19 within the second half.
–Discipline Degree Media
