Duke overcomes St. John’s double-digit lead, 3-point shooting in comeback Sweet 16 win

Fifth-seeded St. John’s came out shooting hot from long range with a season-high nine 3-pointers in the first half.

But when the threes went cold after halftime, No. 1 Duke took advantage. The Blue Devils erased a 10-point deficit to come back and beat the Red Storm, 80-75, in a back-and-forth NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game on Friday night at Capital One Arena.

Duke’s Isaiah Evans led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while season-leading scorer Cameron Boozer reached exactly his average, notching 22 points. In his return from a foot fracture 20 days ago, Caleb Foster was the other Blue Devil in double digits with 11, as the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed extended its nation-best winning streak to 14 in reaching its third straight Elite Eight.

“Isaiah, the shot-making. He’s not afraid of any moment. Cam coming through in a big way. Then just collectively finding a way to get stops,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Some of the 3s they were hitting, they haven’t hit those all the time. You’ve got to weather the storm and figure it out.”

Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor led St. John’s with 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting, while Bryce Hopkins added 15 and Ruben Prey’s 12 points all came from a perfect 4-of-4 effort from three.

“We felt we had to win the 3-point line in a big way to have any shot at this game, and we did,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said. “We were up 10, we could not stop bully drives, bully drives, bully drives, bully drives, four, and we could not stop it, which is a credit to them.”

St. John’s shot the lights out from beyond the arc, going 9-of-18 from 3-point range in the first half. It bested its previous season high of eight, ironically also at Capital One Arena against Georgetown in December.

“We played a great first half. We answered the bell on every punch. And in the second half, we just could not guard certain things they ran to the basket,” Pitino said. “If we could have, if we were a little bit bigger and more physical there, probably could have made a difference, but we did not.”

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Duke’s sloppiness almost cost it the win, as the Red Storm forced nine turnovers with their trademark physical style. But St. John’s couldn’t sustain its perimeter success, missing eight of their final 10, including a last-gasp three from Dylan Darling that would’ve tied the game at 75 with 4 seconds left.

“They’re one of the most physical teams we played all year. It’s something we talked about every single day, just their physicality, their pressure. They turn guys over and dominate the boards,” Boozer said. “I thought we did a pretty good job overall. We had some stretches where we gave them a run with turnovers, but through the game overall we did a pretty good job weathering the storm.”

Boozer had four of the Blue Devils’ first six points as Duke put together a 7-0 run early, but St. John’s answered with a 5-point swing on a Darling three and a Mitchell steal-and-score off the ensuing inbound. It began a run of five straight makes for the Red Storm, who took a 19-15 lead.

The St. John’s lead grew to as many as six before a 13-3 run powered Duke back into the lead, 26-30, with 5:40 left before halftime. The Red Storm’s lone points during the stretch came on Mitchell’s first 3-pointer of the season.

“The way they were shooting the first half, I think some of that we could have cleaned up and done a better job contesting. At the same time, guys that haven’t necessarily done that. Not knocking them, but Prey hasn’t hit four 3s, Mitchell that’s his first 3 on the year, Ejiofor, you know is capable,” Scheyer said. “But you have to adjust … I thought our guys did that.”

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Duke was held scoreless for the final 4:43 of the first half and only made two 3-pointers in the period. It would score on back-to-back possessions to open the second, but was unprepared for the relentless Red Storm assault to follow. 

Three forced Blue Devil turnovers in less than 3 minutes all led to Ejiofor dunks or layups, helping ignite a 13-0 run and a 53-44 Red Storm lead.

However, Duke clawed all of that margin back, making 10-of-12 shots across an 8-plus minute stretch to tie the game at 65 before making five of its final seven from the floor to close. 

“For me, it’s all about in those moments what you control. Then the last thing, you’re not going to get a ten-point lead cut down all at once. So just each possession. What do you have to do each possession? Our guys came out, and they did that,” Scheyer said.

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St. John’s (30-7) falls a win shy of tying the program record for wins in a season, while Duke (35-2) will seek back-to-back Final Four appearances when it plays in the program’s 26th Elite Eight on Sunday.

• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.