It started with — who else? — Zuby Ejiofor.
Seton Hall was on a run, and the Pirates fans — and the Connecticut ones who had arrived early — were getting loud.
A 19-point lead was down to six. There was still 4:41 left on the clock.
He scored inside. He blocked a shot. His teammates joined him. Joson Sanon added two free throws, Dillon Mitchell came up with a steal and Bryce Hopkins hit two more at the line. Soon, it was a 7-0 run.
St. John’s wasn’t going to blow this lead, or a chance at repeating as Big East Tournament champions.
“I live for these moments, having the opportunity to win and advance,” Ejiofor, the Big East Player of the Year, said.
For the first time since 1999-2000, St. John’s is headed to back-to-back conference tournament title games, after this hard-fought 78-68 victory over local rival and fourth seed Seton Hall at a sold-out MSG on Friday night.
A win on Saturday would mark the first time the program has won the tournament in consecutive years.
It won’t be easy. As expected, the Johnnies will see second-seeded Connecticut, a 67-51 winner over No. 11 Georgetown in the second semifinal. The league’s two powers split the regular season series.
“We’re playing for a championship,” coach Rick Pitino said after St. John’s won for the 18th time in their past 19 games. “We played for the regular season [title] as if our life was on the line. We’re going to play tomorrow as if our life is on the line.”
Ejiofor improved to 6-1 in Big East Tournament games after finishing with 20 points and five rebounds. Sanon added 15 points and Mitchell (six rebounds, five assists) and Hopkins (seven rebounds, four assists) each had 13. Adam “Budd” Clark had 17 points and 11 assists for Seton Hall (21-12), which will likely miss the NCAA Tournament.
“Walking over here I was asked how impressive it is to go to a second straight [Big East Tournament] title game. I said, ‘Well, what’s really impressive to me is to beat Seton Hall three times,’” Pitino said. “That is not easy to do because of the way they get after you.”
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The start was almost an exact replay of Thursday’s win over Providence, St. John’s (27-6) racing out to an 8-0 lead, with all eight points coming inside. The Red Storm’s first 20 points came in the paint. Seton Hall didn’t let the Johnnies run away and hide immediately.
That happened later, with a pair of 11-0 runs.
The first run, fueled by seven points from Sanon, enabled St. John’s to take an eight-point lead into the break. The second one helped them blow it open. To start the second half, St. John’s scored on its first four possessions, while holding the Pirates without a point on their five possessions. At that point, the lead was 19, and Seton Hall was on the ropes.
“Can’t come out the way we came out,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said. “Can’t spot a good team 10 points early.”
Over the first 11:08 of the second half, Seton Hall managed just six points. The Pirates were held without a point over the first 5:35 of the stanza.
They did string together seven points in a row to get within 12 at the under-8 media timeout, and it was only a six-point game after an AJ Staton-McCray 3-pointer with 4:41 remaining.
But Ejiofor scored on the other end, and St. John’s regained control.
Now it’s on to Saturday night, and a chance to repeat as Big East Tournament champions.
“For us new guys who weren’t part of the team last year, we want it just as bad,” Mitchell said. “We have the same type of chip on our shoulder like we’re defending it and we won it last year with them.”
