No. 22 St. John’s bounces back from double OT loss with 80-55 rout of Virginia
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — RJ Luis Jr. scored 18 points, Kadary Richmond added 12 and No. 22 St. John’s bounced back from a buzzer-beating, double-overtime loss the night before to rout Virginia 80-55 in the consolation game of the Baha Mar Championship on Friday night.
Deivon Smith added 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Red Storm.
St. John’s (5-1) continued its hot shooting in the Caribbean, knocking down 10 shots from beyond the arc.
For a second straight game, UVA (3-2) found its offense derailed by a reliance on 3-pointers and a slew of turnovers. But on Friday, it wasn’t competitive on the defensive end either.
Elijah Saunders led the Cavaliers with 12 points. Andrew Rohde scored 11 and Isaac McKneely had 10.
Takeaways
Virginia: The Cavaliers were the only unranked squad among the four teams at the Baha Mar Championship, and it showed. They’ve lost back-to-back games by at least 20 points for the first time since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, Tony Bennett’s second as coach. Bennett retired shortly before this season.
St. John’s: The Red Storm responded to Thursday night’s loss to Baylor at the buzzer in double overtime. St. John’s was engaged and energetic, taking it to Virginia from the opening tip as Luis scored the game’s first points on a transition dunk.
Key moment
St. John’s used a 16-0 run, fueled by six Virginia turnovers, to open up a 35-16 lead with 3:01 left in the first half. The Cavaliers only trailed by three prior to the run.
Key stat
Virginia committed 16 turnovers in the game, 13 of them from Red Storm steals.
Up next
St. John’s stays in the Bahamas for a standalone game against Georgia on Sunday, while Virginia hosts Manhattan on Tuesday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball