St. John’s shows its growing up with dominant second half to rout Marquette

The sample size is growing, and St. John’s and its new three-forward starting lineup are carving up the Big East.

It’s now three games and three lopsided results in favor of the Johnnies since Rick Pitino inserted Dillon Mitchell into the starting lineup alongside Bryce Hopkins and Zuby Ejiofor.

Marquette had no answer for the trio Tuesday, as St. John’s improved to 5-1 in league play for the second consecutive season after this 92-68 beatdown in front of 13,470 at the Garden.

Hopkins, Ejiofor and Mitchell combined for 43 points on 16-of-25 shooting, 21 rebounds and 10 assists, as St. John’s won for the eighth time in 10 games. The three took over after halftime, particularly Hopkins.

He had eight points in a 13-0 run that put the game away, while Ejiofor scored 15 second-half points.

“I just think the second half we came out with a different mindset, different intensity, different effort,” said Mitchell, who had eight points, eight rebounds and four assists. “That’s something that we have to have for 40 minutes like that.”

It was a commanding victory, one that saw St. John’s plus-13 on the glass, plus-12 in points in the paint and force 19 turnovers, which led to 24 St. John’s points.

The most impressive stat of all during this mini-win streak: Defensive rebounding. In the last three games, St. John’s has held the opposition to 15 offensive rebounds and seven second-chance points, going from 310th in the country in defensive rebounding percentage to 238th.

This also marked the third straight game St. John’s has shot 50 percent from the field. Oziyah Sellers led them with 24 points and four made 3-pointers.

The Red Storm improved to 7-2 when the sharpshooting guard reaches double figures.

“When I see a couple go in early, it’s definitely a good feeling,” Sellers said. “Even when they’re not, I just try to stay aggressive because I know eventually they’ll go in.”

St. John’s (12-5, 5-1) held a six-point edge at halftime, and while it was a heavy favorite, Pitino was thrilled with that somewhat narrow lead. Hopkins and Ejiofor were limited in the first half due to foul trouble, and Pitino had to go deep into his bench.

The reserves, in particular Dylan Darling and Sadiku Ibine Ayo, made sure the Red Storm kept the lead.

“I thought we played an excellent half. We played with Ruben [Prey] and we played with our bench,” Pitino said. “To be up six points I was very pleased, because we were in foul trouble and other guys came in the game. I do think Dylan Darling and ‘Diku’ did so things from an intensity standpoint that helped our team turn around the game.”

There is a lot to like about this team right now.

They have responded to that ugly home loss to Providence with three blowouts, one just as dominant as the next.

The big frontcourt is flexing its muscles and different backups are performing well on different nights.

Against Butler, it was Prey. At Creighton, it was Lefteris Liotopoulos. Tuesday night, it was Darling and Ibine Ayo.

“That’s something we struggled with early on, playing with the lead,” Sellers said. “That’s something we definitely emphasized, watching a lot of film in practice and just reminding each other to stay together when things aren’t going our way. I feel like we responded well in the second half.”