DePaul Blue Demons vs St. John's Red Storm Match Player Stats On Jan 05, 2022

Julian Champagnie had 34 points and 16 rebounds and Posh Alexander had 16 points and four assists as St. John's came back from a lengthy COVID pause and held off DePaul 89-84 at its on-campus arena in Queens, New York, on Wednesday night.

St. John's Dylan Addae-Wusu had 17 points and eight assists. He hit a clinching 3-pointer with 28 seconds left and the shot clock about to expire, giving the Red Storm an 87-81 lead.

Montez Mathis scored 11 points for St. John's (9-3, 1-0 Big East), which hadn't played since losing to Pitt on Dec. 18.

Javon Freeman-Liberty scored 24 points and Jason Terry 14 for the Blue Demons (9-4, 0-3), who led by five midway through the second half.

Philmon Gebrewhit's 3-point play with 5:29 left cut the St. John's lead to 73-72, but Champagnie, who missed the loss to Pitt because of COVID protocols, made a shot in the paint and a three to extend the lead to 78-72. DePaul didn't get closer than three after that.

St. John's led 51-43 on Champagnie's dunk off a pass from Alexander early in the second half. But DePaul used a 14-2 run to take a 57-53 lead on a 3-pointer by Johnson from the left corner with 13:04 left in the game.

The Blue Demons extended their lead to five, but St. John's answered with a 10-3 run for a 65-63 lead with 8:54 left on a dunk by Mathis, courtesy of a steal and assist by Addae-Wusu.

St. John's led by seven early in the game, but Freeman-Liberty made 3-pointer with 8:01 left in the first half to cut the deficit to 23-21. The Red Storm responded with nine straight points for their largest lead at 32-21.

During the run, Champagnie and Alexander both made a trey and Mathis capped it with a steal and an uncontested dunk with 5:06 left in the half.

Alexander had a drive down the lane and a finger roll at the buzzer for a 39-35 halftime advantage for St. John's.

--Field Level Media