St. John’s men’s basketball clinches Big East regular season title in gritty win over Seton Hall

It was never going to be a walk in the park. If St. John’s were going to clinch another Big East regular season crown, they were going to need to scrap for it against Seton Hall.

In front of a madhouse crowd of 9,000 at the Prudential Center, the Pirates dragged the Red Storm into a game they were most comfortable playing: a physical, low-scoring battle that would go down to the wire. Yet, when it mattered most, the St. John’s executed in the clutch.

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Behind 21 points from team captain Zuby Ejiofor in his final regular season game, the Red Storm outlasted the Pirates in a 72-65 win to secure a share of the Big East regular season title in back-to-back seasons — a feat the program hasn’t accomplished since 1985-86.

The opening played out familiarly for St. John’s, whose offense went ice cold when they were leading. Following a mid-range jumper by Zuby Ejiofor at the 13:14 mark, the Red Storm only scored five points over the next 7:54. More than enough time for even a scoring-deficient team like the Pirates to pull ahead off an acrobatic layup by T.J. Simpkins.

Matters were made worse when Ejiofor, who was the only Red Storm player producing consistent offense to this point, went to the bench following his second foul at the 4:55 mark.

St. John’s didn’t let that setback bring them down and survived the Ejiofor-less minutes going into halftime. Ruben Prey supplied five of his seven first-half points with the Red Storm’s captain on the sideline, including a go-ahead trey at the 2:00 mark and a baby hook over Najai Hines in the final twenty seconds before the break.

The Johnnies withstood yet another stretch without Ejiofor, who returned to the bench with his third foul with 17:03 remaining. Joson Sanon sank back-to-back threes, then Oziyah Sellers buried his first triple of the game off a pretty skip pass by Dillon Mitchell to give St. John’s a 44-35 lead. However, Seton Hall pressed hard and answered with an 8-0 run to get back within one point off an…

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Publish date : 2026-03-07 05:26:00

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