St. John’s puts on brilliant March Madness show as championship talk begins: ‘One down’

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — St. John’s took out the trash.

Omaha▨ never came close to its quirky postgame tradition of beating up a trash 🐲bin after victories.

Instead, it was the second-seeded Johnnies who were the ones celebrating Thursday night after their first NCAA Tournament victory in 25൲ years.

First-half nerves for 💮thiꦏs win-starved fan base turned into a stress-free final 15 minutes as this second-half team continued its dominance over opponents after halftime.

St. John𒆙’s scored 12 of the first 14 points after the break, and cruised past the No. 15 seed in this West Region first-round game, moving on with an 83-53 mauling that sets up a clash of coaching giants on Saturday afternoon at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

It was St. John’s largest margin💝 of victory in an NCA🅺A Tournament game.

“It’s the road to a national championship,” forward Zuby Ejiofor said. “We got on💛e down. We got five to go.”

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It will be Hall of Fame🌜𓂃rs Rick Pitino against John Calipari once again, as St. John’s meets N✤o. 10 Arkansas with💝 a Sweet 16 bid on the line.

The two former Kentucky coaches have met 23 times in the college ranks, with Cal൩ipari holding a 13-10 edge.

“He doesn’t ha🍸ve to worry about me,” Pitino said jokingly. “Mඣy jump shot is long gone.”

The Johnnie🌱s (31-4) left no doubt after a shaky start, imposing their will.

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At one point, they scored 30 of a possible 38 points, running Omaha off the f🎃loor.

Fresh off being named the Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, RJ Luis Jr. hit five 3-pointers and scored a team-high 22 points🌟 to go along with eight rebounds.

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Simeon Wi🌟lcher chipped in 13 points, Ejiofor added 1ಌ0 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks and Kadary Richmond notched 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

St. John’s equaled a season-high with 14 made 🥀3-point♊ers in 37 attempts, which set a program NCAA Tournament record.

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They manhandled Omaha (22-13) over the final 20 minutes, outscor🌺ing them 50-25.

The Summit League school, one of the bett𒆙er 3-point shooting teams in the count💖ry, was just 5-of-36 from long range and shot 25.7 percent from the field.

CHECK OUT THE LATEST BIG EAST STANDINGS AND ST. JOHN’S STATS

“I’m not thrilled with the rebounding,” Pitino said after St. John’s allowed a whopping 24 offensive rebounds, which led to 18 Omaha second-chance points. “I’m thrilled with ever♚ything else.”

St. John’s started the NCAA Tournament like the last two games 🍸of the Big East Tournament: shaky.

They missed thei🅺r first five shots, found themselves down 7-0 immediately, and tr𝕴ailed 20-14 at one point.

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There were obvious jitters, most of the Red Storm players on this stage for the first time.

Aaron Scott and Richmond were on the 🎀bench with two fouls each.

The bench helped bring the Johnnies back, contributing to a 16-2 run that settled them do🐽wn. Deivon Smith scored five points in the spurt, providing a🐬 jolt.

Omaha had a chance to ♊🉐get even or lead going into the break, but turned the ball over.

On the other end, Smith found Vince Iwuchukwu, who scoredꦚ inside and drew 𒁃the foul, giving St. John’s a five-point halftime lead.

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When the 🤡second half started, St. John’s picked up right where it left off from the Iwuchukwu 3-point play.

Luis hit a 3-pointer, Richmond scored inside and Scott sank 🍸a 3-poi🐎nter.

Luis threw down an alley-oop dunk in transition and the lead was up to a game-higꦬh 13 points, forcing a quick Omaha timeout.

“We caౠme out very tight. This is [our] first time playing [in th🎐e NCAA Tournament], so I think it was a little bit of nerves,” Luis said. “But we cleaned it up in the second half and we got back to our identity, which is defense, and we brought up the pressure.”

The bloodletting was only beginning.

The lead grew to 28 a🌄fter ꦛSmith found Richmond for a layup with a nifty behind-the-back pass. St. John’s was going to advance in March Madness for the first time in 9,135 days.

“I feel like every other game we play we’re breaking some drought, adding a little water to it,” Luis said. “Just to hear 40 years this, 25 years that, it just feels great to get it done and do it with these guys. We’ve been able to b💃uild our own legacy at St. John’s.”