St. John’s dealt familiar heartbreak by Creighton in loss

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OMAHA, Neb. — History repeated itself at the CHI Health Center.

One-point game. A chance for St. John’s to leave Omaha with a significant victory. Contact on the last play.

Both times, the result was a devastating defeat.

RJ Luis missed twice in the final six seconds and St. John’s fell to Creighton, 57-56, on New Year’s Eve for its first league loss. There looked to be contact on his drive at the buzzer, although not nearly as egregious as last year when Jordan Dingle was clearly fouled and no call was made.

Several St. John’s players were looking for a whistle on the play that never came. But afterward Rick Pitino was more upset with the lack of execution and the decision by Luis not to pull up.

“He should’ve taken the wide open 3 is what he should’ve done, not drive into four people,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “Whether it’s a foul or not is irrelevant.”

Pitino wanted to get the ball in Zuby Ejiofor’s hands, but it wound up with Luis taking a midrange jumper above the free-throw line. The offensive rebound found its way back to the junior, who attacked the rim, and couldn’t get a shot off.

“That wasn’t the play,” Pitino said. “He knows.”

Luis declined an interview request through St. John’s afterward.

For the third straight Big East game, the Johnnies (11-3, 2-1) were outscored from beyond the 3-point arc. After a fast start, Creighton (9-5, 2-1) was the better team — better in transition, better on the glass — and had the best player on the floor in 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner. He controlled the game, finishing with 16 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.

“One of the things we wanted to do is go around him, not go over him, and we kept trying to show our manhood and go over him, and he doesn’t foul,” Pitino said. “Sometimes, you get beat over the head because you just don’t listen.”

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An 11-point first-half lead was all but gone by halftime. After the break, Creighton was in command most of the way, leading by as many as eight with 4:31 left. St. John’s rallied, but couldn’t get the game-winner in the final seconds.

It was a frustrating afternoon. The Johnnies shot 37 percent from the field and hit only two of nine 3-point attempts. They have made eight in three league games. Ejiofor led them with 16 points and eight rebounds and Deivon Smith added 10. Steven Ashworth scored 18 for Creighton, which improved to 11-1 against St. John’s in Omaha.

The Johnnies’ three losses have come by a combined five points to the three best teams they’ve played: No. 25 Baylor, Georgia and Creighton. They could have all gone in a different direction.

“Look, we’re going to lose games. It’s 27-6 at the 3-point line and we’re still there to win,” Pitino said. “In all my 50 years, I haven’t seen these types of stats and we’re still right there to win. That to me speaks volumes of what this team is all about. We could’ve won the game, we didn’t. … We keep fighting like our lives are on the line and that’s all a coach can ask for.”

The Johnnies couldn’t have scripted a better start. They were airtight on defense, shots were falling and they held an 11-point lead. Creighton committed seven turnovers by the second media timeout.

But the game began to flip for the Bluejays as the half went on, mostly because of their activity on the offensive glass. They turned eight offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points in the first half, including a pair of Ashworth 3-pointers.

Creighton took command midway through the second half on the strength of a 12-2 burst, turning a four-point deficit into a six-point lead at the under-12 timeout.

St. John’s offense was in quicksand and the Bluejays began to get hot from deep. The story of the second half came with St. John’s down four. Simeon Wilcher missed a layup in transition and Ashworth hit a 3 on the other end, pushing the lead back to seven with 9:08 to go.