DePaul 71, St. John's 63
Post Game Audio
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- Wilson Chandler scored 15 points and DePaul beat St. John's 71-63 Tuesday night to send the Red Storm to its fourth straight loss.
Chandler scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half for DePaul (12-7, 3-2 Big East), which won consecutive conference games for the first time this season. Draelon Burns scored 14 points in a reserve role, and Blue Demons leading scorer Sammy Mejia accounted for all 12 of his points in the first half.
Avery Patterson led the Red Storm with 19 points off the bench. Eugene Lawrence scored 16 points and Lamont Hamilton added 10 points.
St. John's (10-8, 1-4) has lost five of its past six games. The lone victory in that stretch was a 64-53 win over DePaul on Jan. 3. The Red Storm has one road victory this season and three total under third-year coach Norm Roberts.
DePaul surged forward with a 20-3 run to open the second half after being down 35-27 at halftime. Aggressive moves to the basket had the Blue Demons scoring on layups and in the post. The hustle plays and energy paid off on defense, as the Blue Demons held St. John's to three points over the first 8:14 of the second half.
Center Keith Butler put the Blue Demons up 40-38 for their first lead since a 6-5 advantage in the first half. The lead increased to 47-38 on Chandler's alley-oop dunk before the Red Storm scored for the second time.
Thanks to making five of their first 10 3-point shots, St. John's established a 27-17 lead with 6:50 to play in the opening half. Patterson made three of those 3-pointers, and led all scorers with 13 points at intermission.
Mejia scored eight consecutive points to pull DePaul within 27-25, capping the 8-0 run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key at 4:51. Roberts called a timeout to quell the rally, and St. John's responded with an 8-2 run to take the lead into the break.
Marcus Heard played in the 100th game of his DePaul career. The 6-7 senior finished with seven points and seven rebounds.
DePaul hosts Louisville on Saturday, January 20. Tip-off is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and ESPN will broadcast the game.
DePaul Notes: Marcus Heard made the 100th appearance of his career. He is now one of two active DePaul players to have played in 100 games for DePaul joining classmate Sammy Mejia. Senior Keith Butler has played in 104 collegiate games, 12 for DePaul... Will Walker’s second half 3pt. field goal snapped a personal 0-for-9 skid... Sammy Mejia moved into ninth place on DePaul’s all-time assists list and now has 358 career assists... DePaul has outscored opponents 723-615 in the second half this season including a 44-28 advantage tonight... Jabari Currie had a season-high six assists... DePaul held St. John’s to three shot clock violations in the game... The Blue Demons are now 11-0 when leading with 5:00 remaining and improved to 3-4 when trailing at halftime... This is the first time DePaul has been over .500 in BIG EAST play...DePaul improves to 13-9 on the series with St. John’s.
