St. John’s starts off slow, but turns it on in second half to down Bryant

Zuby Ejiofor (24) goes up for layup as part of 22-point, 10-rebound effort as St. John’s defeated Bryant Wednesday. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/St. John’s Athletics)

By Jason Dimaio (@Jaydimaio)

NEW YORK — St. John’s had one last tuneup before Big East play opens Tuesday, one more opportunity to work out the kinks and polish off its weaponry.

But while yet another slow start caused brief consternation among the fans, the Johnnies powered through with their usual second-half kick in defeating Bryant University Wednesday, 99-77.

Former St. John’s reserve Rafael Pinzon, now Bryant’s leading scorer, made his return to Carnesecca Arena with the visiting Bulldogs, and fittingly opened the scoring on Wednesday. The native of Puerto Rico scored five of Bryant’s first seven points as the Red Storm struggled to put its opponent away in the opening stanza. To boot, Bryant was without its second-leading scorer, Earl Timberlake, making the 45-41 halftime margin perplexing to all in attendance.

“I can’t really tell you,” Zuby Ejiofor said when asked about the beginnings to games for St. John’s (8-2). “We always preach that we’re going to come in and play two complete halves, and the second (half) has been totally different from the first, so that’s something we have to work on.”

The 180-degree turn was again present on Wednesday, but to the benefit of the home team. After Bryant pulled within one point, at 54-53, St. John’s pressured the Bulldogs, got after loose balls, and feasted off second-chance opportunities during a game-breaking 21-3 run that put the Red Storm up 19 midway through the final stanza.

Deivon Smith spearheaded the offensive outburst on his way to finishing with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists. The Utah transfer guided the offense into smart, high-percentage shots and flew all over the floor on both sides of the basketball in his second game back from a player-imposed suspension, which he served in St. John’s win against Harvard nearly two weeks ago.

“He could have hung his head and didn’t,” head coach Rick Pitino said as Smith continues to turn over a new leaf since the Johnnies’ return from a Bahamas trip before the Thanksgiving holiday. “He was a man and stepped up like a man, and that has to be commendable.”

Smith stepped up in a literal sense on Wednesday as well, providing the exclamation point on the game with a one-handed putback dunk over Bryant’s Jakai Robinson that lit up the crowd.

“What he did on that follow-up was not to be believed,” Pitino said. “I’ve seen a lot of great players in my time, and I don’t know of any player I’ve ever coached that could get up that high. I was speechless when I saw that. He could do some amazing things.”

While Smith and Aaron Scott (17 points, 10 rebounds) did not miss a beat, with RJ Luis and Simeon Wilcher tallying 17 and 14 points, respectively, the evening’s best performance was turned in by Ejiofor. The forward posted a second straight double-double, amassing 22 points and 10 boards as Pitino praised his work ethic, perhaps sending a message simultaneously to others on his roster as conference play approaches.

“Not everybody has this,” the coach said of Ejiofor’s mentality. “Working hard is a skill. Nobody on our team works like Zuby. I truly believe if some of our players worked like him, they’d be one of the top players in the Big East, because he’s relentless in everything he does. If we could get a group of guys like him who have that skill and work that hard, we’d have a great team.”

St. John’s opens conference play Tuesday by welcoming DePaul on campus to raise the curtain on its league debut, and does so having won three straight after a demoralizing loss to Georgia on November 24. When asked if his unit was ready for the rigors and physicality of the Big East slate, Pitino gave his players a vote of confidence.

“I think we’re more than ready,” he declared. “I think we’re playing really good offensive basketball, we’re sharing the ball, moving the ball, a lot of assists. You guys are caught up in runs and halves, and you want us to dominate for 40 minutes. I wish we would, but we’re not there yet. It’s only my second year.”