No. 6 St. John's beats Creighton 82-66 for 1st Big East Tournament crown in 25 years

NEW YORK — RJ Luis Jr. scored all but two of his 29 points after halftime, and No. 6 St. John’s made 14 straight shots from the field in the second half to beat Creighton, 82-66, on Saturday night for its first Big East Tournament title in 25 years.

Zuby Ejiofor added 20 points, and Kadary Richmond had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the top-seeded Red Storm (30-4), who reached 30 wins for the third time in program history before a roaring hometown crowd at sold-out Madison Square Garden.

They earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for their first trip since 2019, making 72-year-old Hall of Famer Rick Pitino the first coach to take six schools to the Big Dance.

The others were Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona.

Pitino, in his second season at St. John’s, also became the first coach to win the Big East Tournament at two schools. He’s won three times in his last four seasons in the league, after guiding Louisville to championships in 2009, 2012 and 2013.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 15 for second-seeded Creighton (24-10), which fell to 0-5 in Big East championship games since joining the conference for the 2013-14 season.

It was the fourth Big East Tournament title for the Johnnies, who made the championship game for the first time since winning the 2000 trophy under Mike Jarvis. The previous two came in the 1980s under Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca, who died Nov. 30 about five weeks shy of his 100th birthday.