RJ Luis Jr. scored nine of his 18 points during a decisive first-half run for No. 22 St. John's, which cruised to an 80-55 win over Virginia in the consolation game of the Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas on Friday.
Deivon Smith (10 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists) just missed a triple-double for St. John's (5-1), which fell to No. 13 Baylor 99-98 on Jeremy Roach's buzzer-beating 3-pointer in double overtime Thursday night. Kadary Richmond had 12 points while Zuby Ejiofor (eight points, nine rebounds) nearly had a double-double.
Elijah Sanders scored 12 points while Andrew Rohde had 11 points off the bench for Virginia (3-2), which opened play in the Bahamas with a 64-42 loss to No. 11 Tennessee on Thursday night. Isaac McKneely added 10 points.
Virginia took its lone lead Friday at 7-6 on a 3-pointer by Dai Dai Ames with 15:58 left in the first half. Richmond's dunk 37 seconds later gave St. John's the lead for good and began a 10-0 run in which the Cavaliers were 0-for-2 from the field and 0-for-3 from the line while committing three turnovers.
A 3-pointer by Aaron Scott put St. John's ahead by double digits for the first time at 19-8 before Virginia scored the next eight points and pulled within three points on Blake Buchanan's jumper with 9:24 left.
Luis hit a 3-pointer to begin a 16-0 run for St. John's. Virginia was 0-for-4 with six turnovers during the Red Storm's surge, which lasted more than seven minutes.
McKneely scored seven points -- including a four-point play in the final second -- as the Cavaliers ended the half on a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to 39-26. Saunders opened the second half with a layup, but St. John's scored the next six points.
The Red Storm went ahead by 20 points for good at 52-32 on a dunk by Luis with 14:27 left and opened their biggest lead at 72-43 when Ejiofor drained a jumper with 6:01 remaining.
--Field Level Media
St. John's | Virginia | |
RJ Luis 18 | Scoring | Elijah Saunders 12 |
Deivon Smith 8 | Assists | Dai Dai Ames 3 |
Deivon Smith 10 | Rebounds | Jacob Cofie 7 |
Zuby Ejiofor 2 | Free Throws Made | Andrew Rohde 3 |
RJ Luis 4 | Steals | Blake Buchanan 2 |
Zuby Ejiofor 2 | Blocks | Blake Buchanan 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
St. John's | 80 | 52.5 | 10-24 | 6-10 | 19 | 31 | 3 | 13 | 7 |
Virginia | 55 | 40.0 | 9-28 | 10-18 | 12 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 16 |