St. John’s men’s basketball powers past Butler and advances to Big East Tournament semifinal

The Johnnies kept the Bulldogs’ offense in a kennel for all forty minutes and moved onto the Big East semis where they will face Marquette

If St. John’s wanted to hoist the Big East Tournament title on Saturday night, they had to start by getting past an upset-hungry Butler team.

After struggling to separate from the Bulldogs in their two regular season meetings, St. John’s left nothing to chance in Thursday afternoon’s quarterfinal matchup, routing Butler by a score of 79-58 and ensuring they will play on Friday night of the Big East Tournament for a second straight year.

St. John’s knocked Butler out of their game flow from the onset, pulling ahead with an 18-3 run from tip-off. With the ball, the Red Storm unlocked Butler’s zone defense with only a few passes. On defense, the Johnnies outwilled the Bulldogs in the paint and forced them into taking uncomfortable shots. Aside from early foul trouble for Aaron Scott, Deivon Smith, and Ruben Prey, the Johnnies weren’t challenged in the first half.

The Red Storm cordoned off the paint and gave up nothing easy inside to the Bulldogs. St. John’s won the rebound battle by 10. Meanwhile, Butler scored only 12 points in the paint and missed seven of their twelve layup attempts, all while shooting a dismal 34.5% from the floor.

The trio of RJ Luis, Jr., Aaron Scott, and Kadary Richmond commanded the floor, combining to score 50 of the Red Storm’s 78 points. Luis led the Johnnies with 20 points (8-of-18 from the field and 2-of-3 from deep). Aaron Scott was a two-way terror, scoring 15 points (6-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from deep) and ripping away a career-high five steals. Kadary Richmond almost registered his second straight triple-double, posting 15 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists.

Lefteris Liotopoulos did what was asked of him and provided relief off the bench for the foul-troubled Smith, putting up all six of his points (3-of-5) in the first half, including a steal and score after a Pierre Brooks rebound underneath Butler’s basket with 4:04 remaining in the first half.

Butler rallied out of the locker room, cutting the Red Storm lead to 39-31, but that was as close as they would get to troubling St. John’s. Deivon Smith put the finishing touches on a decisive 17-3 run by sinking a corner three with 12:31 left in the game, giving St. John’s a 56-34 lead and shutting the door early.

The one-seeded St. John’s Red Storm (28-4) will face the fifth-seeded Marquette Golden Eagles in the Big East Tournament semifinals on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FOX.