NEW YORK -- Greg Williams Jr. drained his seventh three-pointer from right in front of the St. John's bench, springing delirious teammates onto the court as he bounded into their arms during a timeout.
With an out-of-character shooting display from all over the gym, the Red Storm handed No. 10 Creighton a thorough beating that was hard to see coming.
Williams made seven three-pointers and scored a career-high 21 points as St. John's slowed down the streaking Bluejays in a 91-71 rout Sunday that marked its most lopsided win over a top-10 opponent in 28 years.
"St. John's was terrific," Creighton Coach Greg McDermott said. "When you get outscored by 30 on the three-point line in somebody else's building, it's hard to win."
Rasheem Dunn had 19 points and a career-high 10 assists for the Red Storm (15-14, 4-12 Big East), who stopped a three-game skid. LJ Figueroa added 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Julian Champagnie scored 13.
One of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country, St. John's went a season-best 14 of 22 (64%) from long range in its biggest victory under first-year Coach Mike Anderson. It was the school's first win over a top-10 team at Carnesecca Arena on campus since beating Bernard King and No. 7 Tennessee in December 1975.
St. John's plays many of its high-profile home games at Madison Square Garden.
"It's amazing when you make shots and that ball goes through the hole, it just energizes your whole team," Anderson said. "It's good to see us put 40 minutes together."
Damien Jefferson equaled a career best with 20 points and Ty-Shon Alexander scored 19 for the Bluejays (22-7, 11-5), who had won five in a row and nine of 10.
Creighton could have captured its first Big East championship by winning its final three regular-season games, but now needs help after falling two games behind first-place Seton Hall with two to play.
"We had some decent looks at the basket from guys that are shooting a really high percentage on the year and today they didn't go in," McDermott said. "All the credit to St. John's, they were really good."
St. John's was up six with 7:05 left before taking total command with a 14-0 run that sent the crowd into a frenzy and included four consecutive three-pointers, two by Williams.
The sophomore guard, making his seventh start of the season, entered averaging 4.6 points per game. His previous career high was 11, and he began the day with 15 career three-pointers -- including 12 this season.
"My teammates were just finding me," Williams said. "When we go and play for each other, play together, things like that can happen."
Williams' seven three-pointers matched the most by a St. John's player in a Big East game.
"He was in the zone," Anderson said. "When a guy is in the zone, what do you do? You find him. And he delivered."
Creighton guard Marcus Zegarowski, the reigning conference player of the week, was held to five points on 1-for-10 shooting. Zegarowski, who was averaging 16.1 points, matched a Big East record by going 7 for 7 from deep on the way to 25 points in a blowout win over Butler a week earlier.
NO. 11 LOUISVILLE 68,
VIRGINIA TECH 52
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Jordan Nwora had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 11 Louisville moved into first place in the ACC with a victory over Virginia Tech.
The Cardinals (24-6, 15-4) rebounded from last week's loss at No. 6 Florida State and took a half-game lead over the Seminoles, who swept the season series and hold the tiebreaker with two games to play. Louisville has one game remaining, at third-place Virginia on Saturday.
Jalen Cone scored 15 points off the bench and Nahiem Alleyne had 12 for Virginia Tech (15-14, 6-12), which lost its fourth in a row and ninth in 10 games.
STANFORD 72,
NO. 21 COLORADO 64
STANFORD, Calif. -- Bryce Wills scored 19 points, including a key layup in the final minute, and Stanford beat No. 21 Colorado.
Oscar da Silva added 16 points, and Deajon Davis and Tyrell Terry each had 12 for the Cardinal (20-9, 10-7 Pac-12), who won their fourth in a row.
Tyler Bey scored 17 points to lead the Buffaloes (21-9, 10-7), who lost a third consecutive game for the first time this season. McKinley Wright had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and D'Shawn Schwartz had 14 points.
NO. 23 OHIO STATE 77,
NO. 19 MICHIGAN 63
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Duane Washington Jr. tied a career high with 20 points and Ohio State surged late to beat Michigan.
CJ Walker had 15 points, and brothers Andre and Kaleb Wesson each added 14 for the Buckeyes (20-9, 10-8 Big Ten). They have won three in a row and eight of their last 10.
Ohio State swept the season series against rival Michigan.
Franz Wagner had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolverines (19-10, 10-8).
NO. 25 HOUSTON 68,
CINCINNATI 55
HOUSTON -- Marcus Sasser scored 21 points, Nate Hinton had 16 and Houston beat Cincinnati.
Sasser, who scored 12 points in the second half, shot 8 of 16, including 5 of 12 on three-pointers. Caleb Mills added 15 points for Houston (22-7, 12-4 American Athletic), which shot 36%.
The Cougars moved back into a tie atop the American with Tulsa, one game ahead of Cincinnati (18-10, 11-5).
Tre Scott had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Jarron Cumberland added 11 points for the Bearcats.
Sports on 03/02/2020