[IMPORTANT: Make this 4 times longer with much more detail]
Basketball Storming Into Big East Tournament Championship: St. John’s beats Marquette in Semifinals of Big East Tourney by Robert Rizzo March 15, 2025 Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball NEW YORK, NY — A Saturday night Big East Conference Tournament Championship appearance at “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” Madison Square Garden for the St. John’s Red Storm last came in March of 2000. At that time, one gallon of gas in the United States averaged out to $1.55. Twenty five years later while a gallon of gas is now upwards of $3.00, the number-one seeded Red Storm, ranked sixth in the nation, a bulldog-like group that never quits, setting historic marks it seems like each and every time they step on the floor together, made more history Friday evening — defeating the fifth seeded Marquette Golden Eagles, 79-63, to advance to the Big East Tournament Finals. In a gritty Big East Tourney Semifinal battle against Kam Jones and No. 25th ranked Marquette, St. John’s got off to a rocky start — trailing 24-9 — in result to allowing the NBA-caliber senior guard get hot with 13 points in the first six minutes of play. Image Credit: Big East Conference Some say this is a recurring matter for this year’s Johnnies — getting ‘punched in the mouth early’ — just to retaliate with its elite force on defense and will to win in all aspects of affairs. Essentially, a boxer’s mentality on the basketball court. “Tonight what I said to the young lady (live interview on FOX) after the game, there’s no panic in this stock market, these guys don’t panic,” stated head coach Rick Pitino in the postgame as his squad limited Jones to 11 more points, 24 total to move to 29-4 overall. Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball “Down, they dig in, they play hard. That’s a very good Marquette team. We were almost the perfect five (star-performance) tonight. M.J. (Michael Jordan) is a five-plus now, so understand that. But we were like a five, five-minus tonight. We were brilliant at all phases of the game.” Super Zuby Marquette, led by head coach Shaka Smart, had no answers for Red Storm junior big man Zuby Ejiofor, who recorded a career-high of 33 points (11/15 FG, 11/12 FT) with nine rebounds, three assists and a steal. Ejiofor’s 33 points tied for the most in a Big East Tournament semifinal since the do-it-all point guard ‘Cardiac’ Kemba Walker’s 33-point showing in the 2011 Big East tourney semis for the eventual Big East Tournament and NCAA Champion UConn Huskies. “It was just an amazing feeling, and I got it early,” replied the six-nine, 240 lb native of Garland, Texas, when asked of matching Walker’s record. “I just want to thank my coaching staff and my teammates for putting me in the position to be successful.” Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball More Zuby, The Better: Six sunsets prior to Friday, Ejiofor hit a game-winning buzzer beater on the Golden Eagles in St. John’s and Marquette’s regular season finale. In his last four games going back to March 1st, a win vs. Seton Hall, he has averaged 17.7 points and 9.5 rebounds. “Every coach wants to have a player like him: selfless, just cares about the team,” said Pitino of Ejiofor. “You get blessed in coaching him. I’ve been coaching 50 years, and there are very few Zubys that come along that just think about the team. Whether he scores 33 or 3, it’s all about the team. Every time-out he’s saying something positive to the guys.” There’s Another Aaron in New York For all New Yorkers out there, Yankees’ superstar Aaron Judge is one NY sports figure who comes to mind when illustrating an athlete who will put his body on the line for his teammates even though he may not be 100%. St. John’s senior Aaron Scott, a ‘Three-and-D swiss-army knife’ as his teammate RJ Luis Jr. put it, depicts everything you’d want in a teammate — diving for loose balls, constantly fighting on the glass, all while making the correct plays/decisions for those sharing the floor with him. Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball In Friday’s win, towards the tail-end, Scott, of Spring, Texas, looked to injure his right thumb, and minutes later, got it taped up, then checked back in. Similar to a regular season contest vs. UConn, where he busted his lip diving for a loose ball. “That’s the type of team we’ve got,” Scott said . “That’s our identity. Nothing stops us from playing: injuries, bloody lips, messed-up thumbs, hamstring, nothing. I want to be out there to help my team win.” From One St. John’s Big East Player of the Year to Another Walter Berry and RJ Luis Jr. meet in Friday’s postgame ( WATCH VIDEO ) – Image Credit: Latino Sports After coming off a 13-point, seven-rebound performance, with a couple steals and assists each, the 2024-2025 Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. sat at his locker with ice wrapped around both of his ankles. With members of the press asking him questions in the normal postgame ‘scrum,’ five or so minutes went by until the Dominican-Ecuadorian of Miami, Florida, was welcomed by 6’8” St. John’s men’s basketball icon and former NBA power forward Walter Berry — the most recent Johnnie to win the Big East Player of the Year award (1985-1986) before this week as Luis Jr. was named the winner of this year’s award. Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball “He’s a legend,” said Luis Jr. “Him (Walter Berry) being like the OG, it’s pretty cool. Just to be in the same conversation with him is just really a blessing.” Saturday Night at The Garden: Buckle Up No. 2 Creighton and No. 1 St. John’s for the Big East Tourney Championship The 2025 Big East Conference Tournament Championship game slated for Saturday night at 6:30 PM ET will feature the Creighton Bluejays (24-9) going toe-to-toe with St. John’s (29-4) on FOX. Image Credit: Big East Conference The Bluejays and Red Storm split their regular season series, 1-1, with the respective scores being Creighton, 57-56 on New Years Eve, and St. John’s, 79-73, on February 16th. Follow us on Social Media for updates and exclusive content Instagram: @latinosportsoficial Facebook: Latino Sports Twitter: @latinosports Related Topics Aaron Scott Big East Big East Conference BIG EAST Tournament College Basketball College Hoops College Men’s Basketball Creighton Creighton Bluejays Creighton University Dominican Republic Ecuador featured Golden Eagles Marquette Golden Eagles NCAA Red Storm Rick Pitino RJ Luis Jr. Shaka Smart St. Johns St. Johns Red Storm St. Johns University Zuby Ejiofor Click to comment Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. 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