Kadary Richmond hit a free-throw line jumper with 3 seconds left as St. John’s held off a furious second-half Providence rally in a 68-66 win on Saturday in New York.
Along with 24 points overall, Richmond also had eight rebounds and eight assists for St. John’s who are winners of eight straight games and are 14-0 at home.
RJ Luis Jr. scored 19 points and had eight rebounds and Zuby Ejiofor chipped in 13 points for St. John’s (19-3, 10-1 Big East).
Jabri Abdur-Rahim hit 8-of-11 3-pointers and led the Friars with 27 points off the bench. Jayden Pierre added 11 points for Providence (11-11, 5-6).
St. John’s built a 19-point second-half lead and withstood a 32-13 Providence run. Bensley Joseph’s first bucket was a 3-pointer that tied the game at 66 with 32.3 seconds left.
An Abdur-Rahim deep trey cut the St. John’s lead to 59-53 with 4:31 left in the game. Moments later he hit another triple to cut the Red Storm lead to 62-61.
Luis Jr. hit two free throws as St. John’s went up 64-61, but Pierre’s driving layup cut the Red Storm lead to 64-63 with 59 seconds left in the game. Luis Jr. hit a jumper that extended the lead to 66-63 with 38 seconds left.
After a shot-clock malfunction caused a lengthy, early delay the Friars went on a 14-2 run that covered 9:54. The Friars’ bench scored 12 of the 14 points during that stretch. Providence held a 19-3 edge on bench points in the first half.
Bensley poked the ball free on a double team of Richmond. Adur-Rahim gathered the loose ball and went coast-to-coast for a two-hand slam and a 14-8 Providence lead.
The Red Storm shot 3-for-21 from the floor during the Friars’ run. Richmond’s tip-in snapped the rally at 7:14 and cut the Providence lead to 14-10.
Even though the Providence 2-3 zone held the Red Storm to 29 percent shooting from the field and 30 percent from 3-point range in the first half, St. John’s closed the first half on a 7-0 run.
Deivon Smith drilled a 3-pointer as St. John’s took a 23-21 lead with 1:17 left in the first half. After the Red Storm defense forced a shot-clock violation, St. John’s cracked the Friars’ zone with swift perimeter passing and found Ejiofor inside for a short jumper and a 25-21 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
