St. John’s beats UConn to continue magical run in road win

STORRS, Conn. — A lathered up crowd on $2 Miller Lite night. Ben Gordon’s jersey retirement. An early 14-point deficit. 

St. John’s didn’t blink. It rallied on multiple occasions, quieting the raucous building on several occasions. RJ Luis had the exclamation point, a right baseline jumper with 10.1 seconds left that stunned Gampel Pavilion. 

No. 19 UConn rallied from eight down to get within two, but Luis’ jumper iced it, sending the 12th-ranked Johnnies to a thrilling 68-62 victory over the two-time defending national champions. 

St. John’s magical season has now reached another level, with a possible Top 10 ranking on Monday.

The Johnnies have won 10 straight games and 16 of 17.

Luis led the way with 21 points and seven rebounds, Kadary Richmond added 12 points, six rebounds and six assists and Simeon Wilcher and Zuby Ejiofor each had 11. UConn was led by Liam McNeeley, who had 18 points.

Solo Ball had 13, but was blanked in the second half. 

The first 10 minutes were a nightmare.

The Red Storm were asleep.

They were crushed on the glass, couldn’t make anything and kept on losing Ball, who had 11 points over the first 6:40.

Connecticut built a double-digit lead just 5:10 after the opening tip and led by as many as 14.

The Johnnies looked shaken by the hostile crowd, outrebounded 18-3 out of the gate. 

Then, the game flipped. Smith hit a 3-pointer and was fouled. The press sped up the Huskies, creating transition opportunities for the Johnnies.

They ripped off a 15-2 run and somehow held a two-point halftime lead despite that dreadful start.

Over the final 9:37 of the period, the Red Storm outscored UConn 25-9. 

Luis was the best Johnnie over the initial 20 minutes, notching 11 points and four rebounds, and Wilcher added eight.

The foul-plagued Richmond was held scoreless, although he did have four assists. 

The momentum did not carry over. St. John’s offensive struggles returned over the first part of the second half.

The Johnnies missed 11 of their first 12 shots from the field and found themselves behind by three at the under-12 timeout.

They had a scoring drought of 6:31, which enabled Connecticut to build a six-point lead.

St. John’s, though, came alive.

A Richmond-led 8-1 run, which coincided with three straight UConn turnovers, gave the Red Storm the lead with 5:16 left, forcing a Huskies timeout