OMAHA, Neb. — Only a week ago, dirt was being thrown on St. John’s season. Experts wondered if this was even an NCAA Tournament team.
Two impressive road wins later, the Johnnies have shown they have plenty of life left.
They put together an impressive second half at Butler on Tuesday, and Saturday, they were even better, dominating previously red-hot Creighton at the CHI Health Center.
Suddenly, this team is surging after a one-sided 90-73 victory, just their second win in Omaha in 15 tries. There was so much to like, from a balanced offensive effort to a stifling defensive performance to the continued emergence of Lefteris Liotopoulos.
St. John’s has now won eight of 10 and has three Quad 1 victories. Liotopoulos had a career-high 17 points off the bench, Oziayah Sellers added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists and Ian Jackson chipped in 12. Zuby Ejiofor had 12 points, six assists and four steals and Bryce Hopkins also tallied 12.
Creighton had entered the contest having won four of five league games, including an impressive road victory at Villanova.
But the Bluejays were overwhelmed over the final 30 minutes and top guards Josh Dix and Austin Swartz were limited to 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting.
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St. John’s 3-point defense started poorly. Creighton made 6-of-10 from deep to start and was in control early on, up five.
From there, the Johnnies woke up. Liotopoulos was a big part of that, scoring nine first-half points during a 25-4 run.
Over the final 10:53, St. John’s outscored Creighton, 34-11.
At halftime, they were plus-13 on the glass, shot 54 percent from the field and committed only three turnovers. Ejiofor had five assists at the break, four of which led to made 3-pointers.
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Halftime didn’t stunt St. John’s momentum. Up 18 at the break, the lead quickly went to 22. Creighton never mounted much of a push
