Daniss Jenkins scored a season-high 27 points and carried St. John’s down the stretch as the Red Storm led virtually the entire way in an 80-66 victory over No. 15 Creighton on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Red Storm (16-12, 8-9 Big East) kept alive their bubble hopes by improving to 2-9 against Quad One opponents after entering the game with a NET ranking of 49. St. John’s won its second straight a week after blowing a 19-point lead against Seton Hall that prompted a public criticism of his players from coach Rick Pitino.
Wearing a white suit as part of the school’s “white-out” promotion, Pitino watched Jenkins score 11 straight St. John’s points to fend off a late comeback try by Creighton.
Jenkins made 12 of 18 shots and started his surge with consecutive jumpers and a 3-pointer that put the Red Storm ahead 70-56 with 3:43 left. After Baylor Scheierman missed a 3-pointer with 3:12 left, Jenkins sank a jumper in the paint and then hit two free throws for a 74-62 lead with 1:55 left.
Jordan Dingle added 12 of his 18 points in the second half as St. John’s also ended a seven-game losing streak to the Bluejays. Joel Soriano contributed 12 points and seven rebounds while Glenn Taylor Jr. recorded 10 rebounds. St. John’s shot 47.2 percent and committed three turnovers — the fewest in a Big East game this season.
Creighton (20-8, 11-6) saw its four-game winning streak stopped — unable to follow up its impressive win over top-ranked UCONN — and fell into fourth in the Big East.
Trey Alexander led all scorers with 31 points, one shy of his career high, but the rest of the Bluejays provided with him little help. Scheierman and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 12 apiece but the duo was a combined 9 of 27 from the field as the Bluejays shot 39.7 percent and were 6 of 26 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range.
St. John’s made nine of its first 13 shots and R.J. Luis Jr. hit a layup that capped a 10-0 run and gave them an 18-8 lead with 13 minutes left. Creighton roared back and Alexander scored 10 straight points in its 15-4 run that gave them a 23-22 lead on Scheierman’s 3-point play with eight minutes left.
St. John’s outscored Creighton 19-5 the rest of the half and held a 41-28 lead by halftime after Jenkins sank a floater in the lane with 41 seconds left.
–Field Level Media