Daniss Jenkins flirted with a triple-double Saturday afternoon as St. John’s fended off an upset bid by Hofstra to earn an 84-79 win at Elmont, N.Y.
Jenkins finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for St. John’s (9-4), which led by as many as 13 points with 17:39 to play before Hofstra got within three points five times down the stretch.
RJ Luis Jr. (12 points, 10 rebounds) had a double-double while Jordan Dingle (15 points), Joel Soriano (14 points) and Nahiem Alleyne (10 points) all got into double figures for the Red Storm.
Tyler Thomas had 24 points and nine rebounds for Hofstra (7-6), a member of the Coastal Athletic Association. Darlinstone Dubar scored 23 points and Jaquan Carlos added 10 points.
Hofstra held a quintet of one-possession leads in the first half, the last at 20-18 following a jumper by Dubar with 7:06 left in the half, before St. John’s mounted a 17-7 run, during which it took a pair of six-point leads.
St. John’s led 36-32 at halftime and scored the first nine points of the second half for a 45-32 lead during a span when Hofstra was 0-for-3 from the floor with a turnover.
The Pride responded with a 14-4 run when Thomas scored eight points, but a dunk by Soriano extended the Red Storm’s lead to 51-46 with 13:17 left and Thomas picked up his fourth foul 35 seconds later.
St. John’s outscored Hofstra 10-7 and took a pair of 11-point leads, the second with 10:40 remaining, with Thomas on the bench. Dubar hit 3-pointers bookending Thomas’ return to begin a game-ending 29-23 run for the Pride. Thomas had a layup roll off the rim with 1:32 remaining, which would have cut the gap to one point.
Jenkins hit a fallaway jumper to put St. John’s up 79-74 with 25 seconds left and Dubar missed a layup following a timeout. The Red Storm iced the win by going 5-of-6 from the line in the final 17 seconds.
St. John’s improved to 23-5 all-time against Hofstra. The two schools, separated by fewer than 20 miles, met Saturday for the first time since 2009.
–Field Level Media
