Sadiku Ibine Ayo made his first start of the season and scored 13 of his career-high 15 points during a decisive first half as 10th-ranked St. John’s, minus its leading scorer, rolled to an 82-58 victory over DePaul on Wednesday in Chicago.
Deivon Smith scored a team-high 18 while Kadary Richmond added 17 points and nine rebounds, but it was Ibine Ayo who was instrumental in the Big East leaders taking control of the contest late in the first half.
With star RJ Luis Jr. sitting due to a groin issue, Ibine Ayo started for the first time in his two years with St. John’s (23-4, 14-2 Big East). He had totaled 20 points in 21 games this season prior to Wednesday, but he went 3-for-4 from 3-point range as the Red Storm shot 7-for-12 from beyond the arc en route to a 41-25 halftime lead.
Isaiah Rivera had 16 points for the Blue Demons (11-16, 2-14), who shot 32.7 percent. DePaul has lost four in a row by a combined 61 points, and the Blue Demon have dropped their past seven matchups with the Red Storm.
Dunks by Ibine Ayo and Zuby Ejiofor (13 points) highlighted an 8-0 run that gave St. John’s a 20-12 edge. However, Rivera hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Jacob Meyer made two free throws for DePaul to tie the game with eight consecutive points of its own.
The Red Storm, though, didn’t wait long to regain control of the game for good. Ibine Ayo and Simon Wilcher made 3-pointers to ignite an 11-0 spurt that put St. John’s ahead 31-20 with 5:18 remaining in the opening half.
St. John’s scored 17 points off 11 first-half turnovers by the Blue Demons. Richmond put up five points during the Red Storm’s 7-0 surge in the opening minutes of the second half to expand the advantage.
St. John’s, which went 9-for-21 from beyond the arc on the night and shot 46.4 percent overall, is eying its first regular-season conference championship since 1992.
–Field Level Media
