St. John’s rallies past Seton Hall for fifth straight win
Dillon Mitchell totaled 17 points and 11 rebounds and St. John's overcame a 15-point second-half deficit for a physical 65-60 victory over Seton Hall on Tuesday night in New York.
Mitchell posted his second double-double this season -- in consecutive games -- and hit the go-ahead layup with 4:53 left to put St. John's up 55-54. Mitchell was 7-of-14 shooting and helped St. John's (14-5, 7-1 Big East) survive shooting 35.6% (21 of 59) from the field.
The Red Storm outscored Seton Hall 33-13 in the final 16:03 and earned their fifth straight win since shooting 28.2% in their 77-71 home loss to Providence on Jan. 3.
Bryce Hopkins added 13 and eight boards to help St. John's offset a quiet showing from Zuby Ejiofor, who sat for large stretches in the second half due to foul trouble. Ejiofor was held to nine points and picked up his fourth foul with 6:45 remaining after returning to the contest seconds earlier.
The gritty win also gave coach Rick Pitino his 899th coaching victory, tying him with Bobby Knight for fourth all-time.
AJ Staton-McCray led Seton Hall with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Tajuan Simpkins added 14 and Stephen Payne III contributed 13 and 15 rebounds, but the Pirates (14-5, 4-4) dropped their third straight.
Budd Clark was held to three points, all on free throws, in shooting 0-for-7 from the field, and the Pirates shot 37.9% for the game and 7 of 25 (28%) in the second half.
Seton Hall took a trio of six-point leads in the opening 10 minutes before St. John's took a 23-22 lead on Mitchell's fast-break layup with 7:22 left.
Simpkins and Payne combined for 12 points as the Pirates outscored St. John's 16-9 the rest of the half and held a 38-32 lead by halftime.
Seton Hall scored the first nine points of the second half, opening a 47-32 lead on a basket by Staton-McCray with 16:03 left.
The Red Storm roared back and took a 55-54 lead on a basket by Mitchell with 4:53 left. They led 57-54 following Dylan Darling's spinning layup nearly a minute later after an offensive rebound.
Seton Hall missed seven straight shots until a layup by Payne made it a one-point game with 2:36 left, but Darling converted a layup for a 61-56 lead with 70 seconds left after stealing the ball from Clark at midcourt.