St. John's surges past Butler with big second-half effort

Bryce Hopkins scored 15 of his 17 points in a dominant second half as visiting St. John's pulled away for an 84-70 victory over Butler on Tuesday night in Indianapolis.

Hopkins and the Red Storm (10-5, 3-1 Big East) bounced back nicely from blowing a 13-point lead in Saturday's ugly 77-71 home loss to Providence.

Zuby Ejiofor led St. John's on Tuesday by scoring 14 of his 18 points in the first half when there were 10 ties and St. John's rallied from a seven-point deficit. Ejiofor added five rebounds and three steals as the Red Storm totaled 12 steals.

Ruben Prey and Lefteris Liotopoulos scored 10 points apiece in the game after combining for 16 in the first half. Oziyah Sellers added eight of his 10 points in the second half when the Red Storm shot 53.1%.

The Red Storm shot 50% (33 of 66) on Tuesday after making 28.2% (20 of 71) of their shots on Saturday. The Red Storm also made 16 of 23 layups and dunks after struggling to finish against Providence.

Finley Bizjack led Butler (10-6, 1-4) with 21 points, but the Bulldogs struggled in the second half again and lost their third straight. Michael Ajayi added 14 and nine rebounds but picked up his fourth foul early in the second half.

The Bulldogs shot 50% (24 of 48) but committed 13 of their season-worst 21 turnovers after halftime.

After shooting 3 of 13 against Providence, Hopkins played four minutes in the first half on Tuesday with early foul trouble but came alive in the final 20 minutes. He made seven of 12 shots, including 6 of 10 in the second half as the Red Storm outscored Butler 42-28.

The Bulldogs took a 35-28 lead on a 3 by Evan Haywood with 4:31 left in the first half, but the Red Storm ended the half with a 14-7 run and Prey sank an open corner 3 at the horn for a 42-42 deadlock by halftime.

Hopkins scored nine points in the opening 5:24 of the second and his steal and dunk put the Red Storm up 55-48 with 14:36 left.

The Red Storm opened a 59-50 lead on a hoop by Prey with 12:32 left and later missed six straight shots before Hopkins hit a putback, Ejiofor converted a layup, Ian Jackson sank a 3 and Dillon Mitchell converted a layup for a 68-54 lead with 7:29 left.

The Red Storm continued forcing turnovers and Hopkins put back the rebound of his dunk for a 74-57 cushion with 5:37 left.

--Field Level Media