No. 22 St. John's beats coach Rick Pitino's former team Iona, 91-64

NEW YORK (AP) — Oziyah Sellers scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half, Zuby Ejiofor tied a career-high by blocking eight shots for the second straight game and No. 22 St. John’s survived a difficult start and pulled away for a 91-64 victory over Iona on Saturday.

Sellers made four 3s in the second half and shot 7 of 13. He had his second-best showing of the season after shooting 3 of 15 in the previous two games against Auburn and Ole Miss.

Ejiofor also had six points and 10 rebounds. Ian Jackson added 14 points in his return to the starting lineup. Joson Sanon and Bryce Hopkins each had 13 points.

St. John’s (6-3) missed 12 of its first 13 shots, but wound up shooting 51.7% and scored at least 90 points for the sixth time this season

C.J. Anthony scored 20 for Iona (8-4), which shot 38%.

It was the first meeting between the teams since coach Rick Pitino left Iona to coach St. John’s in March 2023. Pitino led Iona to a 64-22 record and two NCAA Tournament appearances in three seasons at the school before returning to the Big East.

Sanon sank two 3s in the final 84 seconds to put St. John’s up 36-26 by halftime. Iona cut the lead to 48-44 on a 3 by Anthony with 14:22 left before the Red Storm pulled away.

The Red Storm scored 10 points straight for a 58-44 lead when Sellers hit a corner 3 with 11:31 left and took a 71-50 lead on a layup by Sellers with 7:23 left.

Up next

Iona: Will visit Vermont on Dec. 20.

St. John’s: Will host DePaul in its Big East opener on Tuesday.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball