It might not have counted in the history books, but No. 25 Rutgers and St. John's went at it in a highly contested scrimmage that saw the Red Storm come away with a 91-85 victory at Jersey Mike's Arena.
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Rutgers trailed 86-85 with 34 seconds remaining before St. John's stole the ball from Dylan Harper and turned it into two points after free throws from Deivon Smith. The Red Storm followed it up with another steal leading to a free throw from Kadary Richmond and icing the game with 15 seconds left.
The Scarlet Knights finished the night shooting 45 percent from the field (29-for-64), but St. John's had an answer all night long as it went 46 percent from the field (31-for-68). The Red Storm also outrebounded Rutgers 46-37.
The Scarlet Knights had three players record double figures as Ace Bailey scored 25 points on 8-for-18 shooting and had five rebounds. Harper added 20 points and four rebounds and shot 8-for-16 from the field. PJ Hayes tallied 13 points and was 4-for-4 from the field.
Rutgers did not have many answers for Zuby Ejiofor as he recorded a double-double with 27 points and 13 rebounds. RJ Luis Jr. added 22 points and six rebounds while Simeon Wilcher had 15 points and six rebounds. Aaron Scott also had 10 points and five rebounds.
The Scarlet Knights also had trouble matching St. John's on the boards as the Red Storm outrebounded it 46-37 with 21 offensive rebounds.
St. John's used a 9-0 run to take an 86-83 lead with 1:41 remaining. Jordan Derkack stopped the run though with a layup to make it an 86-85 game with 1:13 left.
St. John's used a 13-1 to tie the game at 70 with 8:20 remaining in the second half, but Rutgers answered with a run of its own as it scored nine straight points to take a 79-70 lead with 6:51 left. St. John's punched back though and used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 83 with 2:30 remaining.
St. John's cut it to a 58-52 game early in the second half, but Rutgers responded with back-to-back threes from Ace Bailey to make it 64-52 with 12:40 left.
Rutgers came out of the gates cold shooting 4-for-15 and trailed 17-8, but used a 24-2 run to take a 32-19 lead with 6:02 remaining in the first half. The Scarlet Knights went 8-for-10 during the run and held St. John's scoreless for 6:21. Rutgers also held St. John's without a field goal for 7:16.
St. John's was able to cut back into Rutgers' lead and make it a 40-36 game with 1:01 left in the first half off a jumper from Wilcher, but the Scarlet Knights finished the half strong and went into the tunnel up 44-36 following a turnaround jumper from Bailey. Rutgers also finished the half hitting its last three shots.
The Scarlet Knights had three players record double figures in the first half as Bailey led the way with 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting while Harper and Hayes had 10. Harper and Dercack also tallied four rebounds.
Rutgers finished the half shooting 50 percent from the field (16-for-32) and held St. John's to 33 percent from the floor (11-for-33). Richmond was also limited to just three points.
Luis led St. John's with 13 points and recorded five rebounds.
RHoops Play of the Day: Jordan Dercack comes flying in for the block to keep Rutgers' lead at 21-17 with 8:40 left in the first half.
Up next: Rutgers will begin its season on Wednesday, Nov. 6 against Wagner at Jersey Mike's Arena at 6 p.m. (ET) on BTN.
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