Martin leads Butler to 89-56 win over St. John's
NEW YORK (AP) -- Keland Martin scored 18 points and Roosevelt Jones had a triple-double in 28 minutes for Butler on Saturday, sending St. John's to its 14th consecutive loss, 89-56.
Jones, a redshirt senior, had 10 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, the first triple-double by a Butler player in 32 years. He came into the game averaging 14.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists, the last two numbers leading the Bulldogs (16-7, 5-6 Big East).
"I didn't know he had an opportunity until someone mentioned it to me," Butler coach Chris Holtmann said. "We didn't want to go too far out of character for him to get it but that is a rare achievement for a kid and we wanted to give him the opportunity. It's pretty hard to do that. ... As I've said, we'll go as far as our seniors will take us."
Jones said he didn't know if it was one of his best performances.
"Really, my teammates made shots when I got it to them," Jones said modestly.
Martin, who was coming off a career-high 35 points against Georgetown last Tuesday, scored 18 points as the Bulldogs won for the third time in four games as they climb toward the middle of the Big East standings. Butler was never threatened in the matchup of the best and worst shooting team in the conference.
The 14 straight losses doubles the previous school record for St. John's and matches Delaware for the longest current streak in Division I.
Kassoum Yakwe led St. John's (7-17, 0-11) with 11 points.
Butler went on a 25-2 run over almost 7 minutes to take a 38-17 lead. While Butler started shooting more like the team that leads the Big East in field goal percentage (47.4), the Red Storm starting missing like the team in 10th and last place in shooting (39.6). The largest lead of the first half was 43-19 with 3 minutes left.
St. John's went 11 minutes between field goals. Christian Jones scored on a short jumper with 13:12 to play and it gave the Red Storm a 14-11 lead. Federico Mussini ended the drought with a 3-pointer with 2:11 left that cut the deficit to 43-24.
"It was strange. We got off to a pretty good start and it looked like there would be some carry over from the Xavier," St. John's coach Chris Mullin said, referring to this week's loss to the No. 6 team in the country that was close until the final minutes. "Then things fell apart. I saw some fatigue but that's something all teams go through. As well as Butler played, I think we helped them out quite a bit. Just that stretch alone. I didn't see that coming but that's what happens."
Butler, second in the conference in 3-point shooting at 36.2 percent, finished 12 for 25 from long range. St. John's, which entered last in the league in 3-point shooting at 32.7 percent, finished 8 for 22 from beyond the arc.
"I think that (early run) took their heart out and frustrated them," Martin said. "We played the whole game with high energy."
St. John's welcomed back 6-foot-11 freshman Yankuba Sima, who missed the last seven games with a broken left hand. He had three points and five rebounds in 23 minutes. He was averaging 8.4 points and 6.8 rebounds when he was injured.
TIP-INS:
Butler: The last Butler player to have a triple-double was Tim McRoberts against Oral Roberts on Feb. 20, 1984. ... This was the teams' seventh meeting overall and both had won three straight at one point. St. John's won the first three games and Butler is now on a four-game winning streak. ... Kellen Dunham came into the game averaging 19.8 points in five games against St. John's. He had nine on Saturday.
St. John's: The Red Storm have won four games in Carnesecca Arena this season, keeping teams to a 66.8 scoring average in those games. ... St. John's leads the Big East and is fifth in the nation averaging 6.1 blocks per game. They had seven against Butler. ... This was the second straight game Mussini, a freshman guard, did not start. He had seven points. ... The Red Storm's biggest loss this season is 92-55 to Vanderbilt in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.
UP NEXT:
Butler is at Seton Hall on Wednesday.
