Ian Jackson scored 18 points as No. 25 St. John’s extended its winning streak to seven games with a wire-to-wire 92-70 rout of visiting Butler on Wednesday night in New York.
After honoring Rick Pitino for becoming the fourth coach with 900 career wins, the Red Storm (16-5, 9-1 Big East) notched their fourth double-digit victory of the streak by starting aggressively in their first game as a ranked team since Dec. 20 before heating up from 3-point range.
Zuby Ejiofor totaled 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and had three of the Red Storm’s eight blocks. The senior forward ended the game one point shy of 1,000 points since transferring to St. John’s following one season at Kansas.
Dillon Mitchell collected 14 points and 13 boards as the Red Storm outrebounded Butler 41-31. Reserve Joson Sanon contributed 13 points as St. John’s topped 90 points for the 10th time this season.
St. John’s shot 56.3%, scored its first 20 points in the paint and totaled 46 inside overall by hitting 12 of 18 layups and all six dunk attempts. The Red Storm also finished 9-of-20 from behind the arc after missing their first seven attempts.
Michael Ajayi led Butler (13-8, 4-6) with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but Finley Bizjack was held to 11 points. Jaime Kaiser Jr. and Evan Haywood scored 12 apiece as the Bulldogs lost their eighth straight contest to the Red Storm, including a pair of Big East tournament games.
After the earlier troubles, St. John’s hit five straight triples in the final 4:11 to turn a five-point lead into a 43-29 advantage by halftime.
Butler cut the lead to 47-38 on a floater by Bizjack with 16:49 left and St. John’s gradually took over. Ejiofor hit a difficult mid-range hook shot and finished a 3-point play for a 56-43 lead with 13:31 left and Sanon hit an open 3 to up the lead to 63-45.
The Red Storm finished it off while Ejiofor sat after picking up his third foul as Sanon hit another open 3 to hike the lead to 71-50 with 8:27 left and Bryce Hopkins drove unimpeded for a 75-53 edge just under a minute later. Jackson hit a 3 for an 86-61 lead with 3:36 remaining in the game.
–Field Level Media
