Dylan Darling scored 17 points as No. 17 St. John’s started quickly and extended its winning streak to 13 games with an 81-52 wire-to-wire victory over Creighton on Saturday afternoon in New York.
The Red Storm (22-5, 15-1 Big East) moved a game ahead of UConn for the conference lead. The Huskies are visiting Villanova later Saturday and host St. John’s Wednesday in Hartford, Conn.
St. John’s is on its longest winning streak since putting together 19 in a row from Dec. 22. 1984-Feb. 23, 1985. The Red Storm also are also on a 13-game winning streak in conference games, one shy of the school record during the 1984-85 season.
Darling scored 11 of his points in the second half.
Bryce Hopkins notched a double-double for the second straight game by collecting 15 and 10 rebounds. Hopkins made 6-of-10 shots and posted his 17th career double-double.
Zuby Ejiofor scored 13 of his 15 in the first half and made 7-of-8 free throws for the Red Storm, who sank 20 of 23 attempts at the charity stripe.
Oziyah Sellers contributed 10 points while Dillon Mitchell grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out seven assists, helping the Red Storm to a 44-30 edge on the boards.
Coming off an impressive performance in its 91-84 win at UConn on Wednesday, Creighton (14-14, 8-9) lost for the sixth time in eight games. The Bluejays were held to their second-fewest points this season and shot 32.1 % and committed 18 turnovers.
Fedor Zugic led Creighton with nine points, but Josh Dix and Nik Graves were a combined 5-of-19 from the floor.
St John’s scored the game’s first eight points, took a 22-10 lead on a putback by Ejiofor with 11 1/2 minutes left and Creighton countered with a 13-6 spurt to get within 28-23 on a corner 3 by Zugic with 6:54 remaining. The Red Storm answered the comeback try by outscoring the Bluejays 14-4 the rest of the half for a 42-27 halftime lead.
Creighton cut the lead to 10 twice in the opening minutes of the second, but the Red Storm countered by scoring nine straight for a 53-34 lead on a basket by Ejiofor with 13:56 left.
St. John’s kept pouring it on and a 3 from the top of the key and a hook shot by Ruben Prey on consecutive possessions opened a 67-38 lead with about nine minutes left.
