ROSEMONT, ILL. — St. John’s will be a Big East cellar-dweller in Chris Mullin’s first season with the school.
Billy Garrett Jr. had 19 points and 10 assists, Myke Henry added 17 points and eight rebounds and DePaul beat St. John’s 83-75 on Thursday night.
Ron Mvouika led the Red Storm (8-21, 1-15 Big East) with 20 points. Johnson chipped in 15, Malik Ellison scored 12 and Christian Jones 10. With two games left in the regular season, St. John’s is assured of no better than a tie for last in the league.
The Blue Demons had their largest lead at 50-29 early in the second half and stayed in double digits until Yankuba Sima’s dunk for the Red Storm made it 73-64 with 2:47 left. St. John’s rallied as close as 77-71 on Durand Johnson’s 3-pointer, capping a 13-4 run with 35 seconds left.
Eli Cain added 16 points and Tommy Hamilton IV scored 10 for DePaul (9-18, 3-12), which shot 65.5 percent in the first half to build a 45-28 advantage at the break.
DePaul pulled away in the latter part of the first half with a 21-6 run.