Oziyah Sellers scored 19 points and No. 22 St. John’s pulled away down the stretch following a shaky start in a 91-64 victory over visiting Iona on Saturday afternoon at New York.
The Red Storm (6-3) struggled offensively for the second straight game after eking out an 63-58 home win over Ole Miss last Saturday. A 55-point second half was more than enough to get past Iona (8-4).
Sellers scored 16 in the second half after he was 1 of 5 from the floor in the Red Storm’s uneven opening 20 minutes when they shot 37.9%. Sellers finished 7 of 13 overall and was 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
Ian Jackson added 14 points in his first start since the season opener for the Red Storm. Bryce Hopkins finished with 13 points and Josan Sanon had 12 of his 13 in the first half as the Red Storm shot 51.7% for the game.
Zuby Ejiofor tied a career-high by blocking eight shots after also doing so against Ole Miss. Ejiofor is the first Division I player to record eight or more blocks in consecutive games since the 2021-22 season.
Ejiofor also pulled down 10 rebounds to help the Red Storm to a 42-31 edge on the glass.
CJ Anthony led Iona with 20 points on 9-of-19 shooting. Toby Harris added 14 points as the Gaels shot 38.0% and stayed with St. John’s into the opening six minutes of the second half.
After trailing 10-1 in the opening minutes, St.John’s went on an 18-2 run for a 20-12 lead on a 3-pointer by Sanon with about nine minutes left in the half. The Red Storm scored seven straight for a 30-18 lead on a free throw by Dillon Mitchell, then led 36-26 at halftime after Sanon hit two 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds.
The Red Storm finally began putting things away midway through the second half, taking a 58-44 lead on a corner 3-pointer by Sellers with 11:31 left and grabbed a 71-50 lead on a hoop by Sellers with 7:23 minutes left.
