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TRY IT NOWA sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd on its feet.
“Let’s Go Johnnies,” chants bouncing off the building’s walls.
A gritty victory that will go a long way toward St. John’s winning its first Big East regular season crown since 1986.
This was the dream when the Red Storm hired Rick Pitino.
Less than two years later, it was a reality Sunday afternoon.
The ninth-ranked Johnnies are now in the driver’s seat in the Big East, two games in the loss column up on Creighton and Marquette after this hard-fought, 79-73 victory over the No. 24-ranked Bluejays.
It was defense that again was the difference, St. John’s holding Creighton to 35 percent shooting after halftime and turning 15 turnovers into 20 points.
Over the final 14:51, the Bluejays managed just 16 points.
With the win, St. John’s notched its highest victory total since the 1999-2000 season.
It responded to the loss at Villanova by avenging its other conference loss, to Creighton on New Year’s Eve.
RJ Luis added to his Big East Player of the Year candidacy with 23 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.
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Kadary Richmond had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Zuby Ejiofor followed with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Deivon Smith was surprisingly available and provided energy off the bench, notching eight points and three assists.
St. John’s built a seven-point lead on the strength of an 18-6 run.
Luis’ floater with 4:38 left made it 66-59. Neal answered with a 3-pointer.
At that same point, Ryan Kalkbrenner returned after missing over six minutes of action with a foot injury.
The lead was eight after Simeon Wilcher found Aaron Scott for a layup.
The Garden was exploding and a path to a Big East title was now clear.