Blue Demons use big second half runs to slip past Red Storm
Freshman Dar Tucker finished with 16 points as the DePaul beat St. John’s 60-54 on Saturday. Draelon Burns and Mac Koshwal each added 10 points for DePaul (7-8, 3-1). Since starting out 2-7, DePaul has won five of their last six games and their 3-1 conference mark has them tied for 2nd.
Justin Burrell led the way for St. John’s (7-8, 1-3), scoring 18 points and Anthony Mason Jr. was the only other Red Storm player in double figures, finishing with 11 points.
St. John’s led at halftime 24-21 and a quick 6-0 in the first 3:21 of the second half put DePaul down 30-21, the largest lead of the game for the Red Storm. From there on, it became a game of runs, with DePaul using two huge runs to propel them past St. John’s. The Blue Demons had runs of 14-4 and 16-0. Their first run of the second half, 14-4, put DePaul ahead 35-34, but St. John’s used a 7-0 run of their own to go ahead 41-35 with 12 and a half minutes to play. DePaul went ahead for good at 42-41 during their 16-0 run that finally ended at the 4:43 mark, with DePaul firmly ahead 51-41.
Of the six games on the schedule in the Big East on Saturday, DePaul was the only team to win on the road. Home teams went 5-1.
DePaul will head to Villanova on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. to square off against the Wildcats. DePaul upset Villanova earlier this month, defeating Villanova 84-76 on Jan. 3rd. St. John’s will travel to Morgantown to face West Virginia on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Tags: Big East Basketball, DePaul Blue Demons, NCAA Men's basketball, St. John's Red Storm