National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
St. John's 89, DePaul 84
When: 6:30 PM ET, Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Where: Carnesecca Arena, Queens, New York
Officials: # Jamie Luckie, # Jeff Clark, # Mike Roberts
Attendance: 3429

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

Top Game Performances
 
DePaul   St. John's
Javon Freeman-Liberty 24 Scoring Julian Champagnie 34
Jalen Terry 6 Assists Dylan Addae-Wusu 8
Jalen Terry 8 Rebounds Julian Champagnie 16
Javon Freeman-Liberty 4 Free Throws Made Julian Champagnie 6
Javan Johnson 2 Steals Montez Mathis 3
David Jones 3 Blocks Julian Champagnie 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
DePaul 84 44.1 11-28 13-22 15 40 6 6 16
St. John's 89 47.8 10-18 13-23 18 39 11 9 11