St. John’s with Sweet Victory in Double OT over DePaul, 92-83

Just as the game appeared to be over, St. John’s powered through in the final 7 minutes to force a pair of overtimes where they eventually beat DePaul, 92-83.

After the Red Storm held on to beat Providence at Madison Square Garden, they flew out to Chicago to take on one of the bottom three teams in the Big East. The Johnnies have struggled as of late against the bottom of the conference with a will they/won’t they win against Georgetown a couple weeks ago, and a heartbreaking loss at Butler last week.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, the first half was recapped in a poem.

On this Valentine’s Day, a game of hoops,

With twists and turns, and future matchups to snoop,

The St. John’s Red Storm and DePaul Blue Demons,

Fought hard on the court, their passion still steaming.

O’Mar Stanley, with a new number on his chest,

Played for only four minutes, but gave it his best,

David Jones returned to Chicago, a moment to savor,

A game of redemption, a chance to show he was greater.

Andre Curbelo, missed out on the game once again,

A coach’s decision, and he was left off the plane,

The Red Storm fought hard, but never led in the first,

A game of grit and resilience, a test of their thirst.

And at halftime, the score showed St. John’s trail,

By seven points, with hopes and dreams to unveil,

But the game was not over, with much to play,

We hoped that the Johnnies still had a lot to say.

Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

At the half, St. John’s trailed 39-32.

Two minutes into the half, a 10-0 run by the Johnnies gave St. John’s their first lead of the night. The run was capped off by a pair of alley-oops from Posh Alexander to AJ Storr.

At the conclusion of the run, the Red Storm gave the lead right back and DePaul maintained a 2-possession lead for 6 minutes or so.

Every time St. John’s would creep back into a close game, DePaul would answer. No answer was louder than DePaul 11-0 run to extend the Blue Demon lead to 11 points.

The Johnnies had a love-hate relationship at the rim in this one. While they scored 40 points at the rim in regulation, there were several missed attempts and blocked shots with the Red Storm shooting 20 of 42 at the rim. DePaul’s Nick Ongenda led them in blocks with 8, and will likely haunt Kolby Kings nightmares for the foreseeable future.

St. John’s battled back from down 13 to tie it up in the last 30 seconds, but a Jalen Terry hit a dagger for his only bucket of the night that put DePaul up 3 with under 5 seconds to go.

Dylan Addae-Wusu rebutted with a clutch three of his own. After an untouched full-court pass by DePaul went out of bounds, David Jones got a look with .5 seconds and almost ended the game, but the shot rimmed out with both teams heading to overtime tied at 79.

Addae-Wusu’s heroics continued in both overtimes, as he scored 6 points in the two overtimes and DePaul lost their legs and two of their bigs fouled out.

After 10 minutes of free basketball, St. John’s over a 13-point deficit to beat DePaul, 92-83.

Next, the Red Storm take on Creighton at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday at 7:30 PM.

St. John’s Red Storm

Dylan Addae-Wusu: 24 points (9-19 FG, 3-6 3PT), 11 rebounds, 2 assists

Joel Soriano: 21 points (6-10 FG), 16 rebounds, 1 assist

AJ Storr: 14 points (5-14 FG, 2-6 3PT), 7 rebounds, 3 assists

DePaul Blue Demons

Javan Johnson: 26 points (9-23 FG, 6-14 3PT), 6 rebounds, 5 assists

Umoja Gibson: 17 points (6-14 FG, 3-8 3PT), 5 rebounds, 5 assists