St. John’s men’s basketball enjoys another second-half scoring explosion to beat Bryant

After the Red Storm started slowly again, Ejiofor and Scott took charge in the second half.

In what has become an all-too-familiar trend this season, St. John’s overcame a sloppy first half and fired on all cylinders in the second half, beating the Bryant Bulldogs inside Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday night, 99-77.

Instead of another cold shooting slump — as St. John’s exploited Bryant’s zone defense throughout the first half — the Red Storm’s typically-frenetic defense looked slower and less motivated as the Bulldogs leapt for loose balls, forced deflections, and equalized the rebound battle.

St. John’s surrendered 41 points to Bryant in the first half, their most before the halftime buzzer all season. Former Red Storm player Rafael Pinzón made his Carnesecca Arena return and scored nine points in the first half, while Keyshawn Mitchell led the Bulldogs with 15 points.

The Red Storm continued to struggle to find their legs out of the halftime break, holding a slim 54-53 lead with 15:04 remaining, but Zuby Ejiofor and R.J. Luis changed the tenor of what was an otherwise uninspiring St. John’s performance from that point. The pair helped lead a 15-2 run to put St. John’s ahead by double-digits for good.

Bryant still shot over 51 percent from the field in the second half, but they simply could not keep up with the Red Storm’s back-and-forth fastbreak.

Including Ejiofor and Luis, five Red Storm players scored in double-figures. Ejiofor continued to do yeoman’s work in the paint, recording a double-double for a second straight game with 22 points and ten rebounds. Seven of his rebounds came of the offensive variety and his effort on the glass helped turn the tide during that scoring spurt.

Aaron Scott also recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Luis helped pushed the tempo with 17 points of his own in only 24 minutes of action. Simeon Wilcher also stabilized the Red Storm with 12 of his 14 total points coming in the first half.

Of course we could not forget about Deivon Smith, who scored 14 points off the bench despite only playing 17 minutes due to foul trouble, and almost hit his head on the Carnesecca Arena ceiling on both of his second-half putback dunks.

St. John’s will have a one week break for final exams before they begin their Big East season against DePaul on Tuesday, December 18 at Carnesecca Arena (6:30 p.m., Peacock).