Déjà vu: St. John’s men’s basketball’s Zuby Ejiofor sinks floater at the buzzer to stun No. 20 Marquette

Night night, Golden Eagles.

It was a buzzer-beating shot so nice, Zuby Ejiofor had to make it twice.

In St. John’s’ first Big East road game of the season on December 20, Ejiofor shocked Providence at the horn by sinking a second-chance floater in the paint, silencing a once-raucous road crowd.

On Saturday afternoon, in St. John’s’ final conference road game of the season, lightning struck again.

With seven seconds remaining in overtime and the game knotted at 84, R.J. Luis missed a three-point jumper from the corner, and Chase Ross tracked down the defensive rebound. However, before Ross could turn upcourt, Kadary Richmond swiped the ball from his grasp. Simeon Wilcher collected the ball from Richmond and then swung it to Zuby Ejiofor in the heart of the paint.

At the last possible moment, Ejiofor buried a floater at the buzzer that was eerily identical to the one that beat the Friars almost three months ago, creating the perfect bookend to an unforgettable regular season for the Johnnies as they knocked off No. 20 Marquette by a score of 86-84 in an overtime thrill ride.

Ejiofor would finish the game with his ninth double-double of the season, putting up 17 points (5-of-9) and 12 rebounds.

Much like that fabled game at Amica Mutual Pavilion before Christmas, St. John’s was at risk of fading on the road early before Ejiofor could save them. After taking an early 11-6 lead despite missing Deivon Smith and Aaron Scott playing at less than 100% percent with a hamstring injury, Marquette ambushed the Red Storm in transition with a 17-4 run to give the Golden Eagles a 23-15 lead with 8:26 left in the first half.

Kadary Richmond stopped the bleeding with two quick baskets at the rim, triggering an 8-0 run to tie the game. The Brooklyn native would have his fingerprints all over this game. Posting ten points, eleven assists, and twelve rebounds in a whopping 42 minutes of action, Richmond recorded the first triple-double by a St. John’s men’s basketball player since Ron Artest did it versus Seton Hall on January 9, 1999.

The Red Storm acquitted themselves pretty well to end the half, taking a 36-35 halftime lead despite struggling again from deep (2-of-9 from three) and surrendering eight turnovers. Marquette could not buy a three-point jumper even though they were often left abandoned along the perimeter, shooting 4-of-15 from three (26.7%) in the first half.

Both teams remained in lockstep throughout the second half. Neither team held a lead better than six points for more than five seconds, and there were nine lead changes in the final twenty minutes of regulation. While St. John’s left the door open with horrid three-point shooting and suspect transition defense, Marquette couldn’t make them pay by shooting 12-of-22 from the free-throw line (54.5%) and regularly missing open baskets. This game coming down to the final basket felt like an inevitability.

R.J. Luis had what might be his best performance of the season, recording a double-double with a team-high 28 points and 11 rebounds and scoring when the Red Storm needed him most. After Kam Jones nailed the go-ahead layup to give Marquette a one-point lead with 40 seconds remaining as part of his 32-point Senior Day swansong, then Stevie Mitchell split two free throws to give the Golden Eagles a 75-73 lead, R.J. Luis responded with a clutch layup to tie the game up with ten seconds left in regulation. St. John’s locked down Marquette on the final possession to send the game to overtime.

The No. 6 St. John’s Red Storm (27-4, 18-2 Big East) now look ahead to the Big East Tournament, where they will have the one-seed and a first-round bye. Their next game will be against Providence or Butler in the Big East tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, March 13 (12:00 p.m., Peacock).