No. 13 St. John’s scores 54 second factors in win over William & Mary

Bryce Hopkins finished with 15 points and 13th-ranked St. John’s fended off a stiff challenge from William & Mary in the opening half before dominating the final 20 minutes of its 93-60 victory Saturday night in Queens, N.Y.

After dropping eight spots in this week’s top 25 poll, the Red Storm (2-1) bounced back from last week’s disappointing defensive showing in a 103-96 loss to Alabama one week ago and scored 19 straight points to turn a five-point halftime lead into a rout before the midway point of the second half.

Joson Sanon also scored 15 points for the Red Storm, who shot 50% in the second half and 48% overall.

Dylan Darling contributed 13 points and a game-high four steals after missing the Alabama game with a calf injury. Oziyah Sellers also finished with 13 as the Red Storm scored over 90 for the third straight time.

Zuby Ejiofor was held to 11 and did not attempt his first shot until hitting a layup with about five minutes left in the opening half.

Reese Miller scored 11 to lead the Tribe but Kyle Pulliam was held to eight points on 3-of-11 from the field. William & Mary shot 37.7%, hit 9-of-29 treys and committed 24 turnovers

The Tribe answered the Red Storm’s 17-9 start with an 8-2 spurt and trailed 19-17 after a layup by Chase Lowe with 11:27 remaining. The Tribe kept hanging around and forged a 26-26 tie on an open dunk by Kilian Brockhoff with 6:11 left and St. John’s settled for a 39-34 lead by halftime.

The Red Storm finally began pulling away early in the second when they scored the first eight points and Ejiofor’s putback dunk pushed the lead to 47-34 with 17:45 left. St. John’s increased its lead to 56-36 when Hopkins outmuscled two defenders for a layup with 15:20 and that was part of a 19-0 run that hiked the gap to 66-36 with about 13:28 left.

St. John’s outscored William & Mary 29-6 in points off turnovers.

–Field Level Media