R.J. Luis Jr.’s technical foul in the second half could have been the momentum killer for St. John’s as it pushed for the program’s first conference tournament title in 25 years.
Instead, it was nothing more than an interlude in what was a furious run that sent the Red Storm past Creighton to capture the Big East Tournament crown for the first time since 2000.
Luis Jr., the Big East Player of the Year, knocked down a 3-pointer and made a three-finger salute in what was deemed taunting the opponent, as the officials felt he was pointing at his defender. Creighton’s Ryan Ashworth knocked down both free throws and the Blue Jays maintained possession to trim the Johnnies lead to two, but instead of giving momentum back to Creighton, St. John’s snatched it right back, making it known that they wouldn’t be denied a chance at cutting down the nets at Madison Square Garden.
The Red Storm responded to the technical foul with a frenzied 17-5 run that electrified the MSG crowd, which had been taken over by a sea of red in anticipation of witnessing something that had been seen just once before in this millennium.
After pulling away in the second half the night before against Marquette in the semifinals, St. John’s pulled off an encore on Saturday night, capping off a week in Gotham where it felt like the 80s again, and provided another landmark statement in what has been a drastic and swift turnaround under Rick Pitino’s watch.
By the time the Johnnies were putting a bow on the win, Luis Jr. was hearing “MVP” chants at the free throw line (and putting the finishing touches on a 27-point effort), Deivon Smith was bullying Ashworth after the Creighton point guard made a shushing gesture to the crowd following a 3-pointer, and once again, New York felt like a St. John’s town in March.
Creighton had the momentum in the first half, knocking down seven of its first eight shots to start the game, but the Johnnies began to dig deep on the defensive end out of a timeout, forcing a five-second violation and a travel while the offense continued to search for its rhythm on the other end.
The team's 25 first-half points were tied for the fewest the Red Storm had scored in a half all season.
Both teams came out shooting with more efficiency in the second half, and a corner three from Luis Jr. tied the game at 38 with just under 15:00 remaining. But the Johnnies found themselves in early foul trouble as they tried to contain Blue Jays big man Ryan Kalkbrenner, racking up six fouls in the first 6:30 after Zuby Ejiofor picked up his third personal. Kalbrenner subbed out shortly after and Ejiofor immediately went to work, bullying his way to the rim and completing an old-fashioned 3-point play to tie the game again with 12:28 to go.
St. John’s grabbed its first lead of the game on the next possession on a hook shot from Vince Iwuchukwu, but once again, Ashworth nailed a triple on the other end and motioned to the crowd to quiet down. Deivon Smith must have taken personal, as he went right at Ashworth shortly after for a tough bucket to put the Johnnies ahead by three and send the crowd right back into jubilation mode, celebrating their team’s largest lead of the game.
Then, Luis Jr. was hit with the technical in a potential turning point in the game. Pitino was incredulous, pleading with the official that Luis Jr. was making a three-point celebration gesture, but to no avail.
Still, the technical foul didn’t quiet any momentum for St. John’s as consecutive layups by Kadary Richmond followed by a layup from Luis Jr., the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, quickly swelled the lead to eight for the Red Storm, forcing a Blue Jays timeout while the MSG crowd began to smell a conference title.
The Johnnies continued to pull away on a 3-pointer by Scott and a Luis Jr. layup off a steal to make it a 15-point game with under six minutes to go, with Creighton suddenly having no answer for the No. 1 seed, which knocked down 17 of its last 19 field goal attempts to race to a celebration The Garden hadn’t seen in decades, and ended what had been the longest tournament championship drought in Big East history.