Wednesday, January 30
Omaha, Neb.
7:30 PM
Creighton University
12-9, 3-5BE
67
vs
83
St. John's
16-5, 4-5BE
1
2
F
St. John's
44
39
83
Creighton
34
33
67
Christian Bishop had nine points in nine minutes on Wednesday vs. St. John's
Photo by: Corey Solotorovsky
Red Storm Earn First Men's Basketball Win in Omaha, 83-67
1/30/2019 10:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Shamorie Ponds leads the Red Storm with 26 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and six steals
OMAHA, Neb. -- Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Shamorie Ponds had 26 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals to lead St. John's men's basketball to its first win over Creighton in Omaha in eight tries, 83-67, before 16,832 fans at CHI Health Center Omaha.
The Red Storm snapped a two-game skid to improve to 16-5 (4-5 BIG EAST), while Creighton had a two-game win streak snapped to fall to 12-9 (3-5 BIG EAST).
Ty-Shon Alexander led CU with 15 points. Martin Krampelj added 12 of his 14 after halftime, while Marcus Zegarowski added 13 points, six assists and three steals in 39 minutes.
Creighton led 20-14 after three-balls from Zegarowski and Mitch Ballock, but the Red Storm answered with a 9-2 run to retake the lead at 23-22. The teams were tied at 32 with two minutes left in the first half before the Red Storm closed out the half on a 12-2 run, burying four consecutive three-pointers to head to the intermission with a 44-34 lead.
Creighton closed within eight points (48-40) after back-to-back scores inside from Krampelj with 17 minutes remaining before St. John's countered with a 9-0 spurt to stretch the lead to 57-40 with 14:36 left.
Creighton did trim the deficit to 11 on a pair of occasions, including 71-60 with 8:03 left, but another 8-0 SJU surge helped the Red Storm pull away for good.
St. John's shot a season-best 57.9 percent for the game and drained 13-of-31 three-point shots. The Red Storm won the rebound battle 36-28 and converted 14 Bluejay turnovers into 20 points. Joining Ponds in double-figures were Mustapha Heron (17), LJ Figueroa (15) and Bryan Trimble Jr. (a season-high 11).
Creighton shot a season-low 41.7 percent (25-60) and were just 9-of-34 (26.5 percent) from three-point range while also shooting 8-of-15 at the charity stripe (53.3 percent).
Creighton hosts Xavier at Noon on Sunday, Feb. 3.
NOTES: St. John's completed its first regular-season sweep of the Bluejays ... Creighton surpassed 200,000 fans for the 14th straight season, and has now hosted 205,785 fans this season ... Creighton has made at least five three-pointers in 57 straight games, a three-pointer before halftime in 208 games in a row and at least one trey in 837 consecutive contests ... Ty-Shon Alexander has made at least one three-pointer in 25 straight games, tied for the fourth-longest streak in program history ... Davion Mintz dished a season-high seven assists ... Connor Cashaw played just four seconds before leaving the game early in the first half with a shoulder injury after being injured on a screen. He will undergo an MRI on Thursday.
Team Stats
SJU
CU
FG%
.579
.417
3FG%
.419
.265
FT%
1.000
.533
RB
36
28
TO
17
14
STL
11
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballG
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