St. John's Red Storm vs Creighton Bluejays Match Player Stats On Jan 19, 2022

Alex O'Connell scored a career-high 28 points and Creighton rode a dominating first-half performance to cruise to an 87-64 victory over St. John's in a Big East game Wednesday night in Omaha, Neb.

O'Connell shot 9 of 14 from the field, including 6 of 9 from beyond the arc, and added seven rebounds for the Bluejays (11-5, 3-2 Big East), who ended a two-game losing slide.

Ryan Kalkbrenner just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Arthur Kaluma scored 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Ryan Hawkins had 13 points and five rebounds and Trey Alexander chipped in 11 points and five rebounds.

St. John's (10-6, 2-3), which has lost three of its past four games, was led by Julian Champagnie, who scored 17 points on 7-for-21 shooting. Aaron Wheeler added 16 points, while Dylan Addae-Wusu posted a game-high eight assists and a team-high seven rebounds to go along with his 10 points.

Creighton shot 50 percent (31-for-62) from the field, including 51.9 percent (14-for-27) from beyond the arc. The Bluejays outrebounded the Red Storm 50-31.

St. John's never found a rhythm offensively. The Red Storm shot 38.6 percent (27-for-70) from the field, including 25 percent (5-for-20) from the 3-point line, en route to trailing by as many as 30 in the second half.

Creighton controlled the first half to take a 49-34 lead at intermission.

O'Connell scored 17 points in the first half on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, while Hawkins added 10 points to pace the Bluejays.

Creighton ended the half by making seven of its last nine field-goal attempts to finish the opening 20 minutes shooting 56.3 percent (18-for-32) and a red-hot 63.6 percent (7-for-11) from 3-point range.

St. John's was led in the first half by Wheeler's nine points, while Posh Alexander and Addae-Wusu added eight points apiece. The Red Storm struggled offensively, shooting 42.9 percent (15-for-35) from the field, including 33.3 percent (3-for-9) from beyond the arc.

--Field Level Media