By Richard Jean
Joel Soriano, the 2022-2023 Big East Most Improved Player, scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead No. 8 seed St. John’s Red Storm over No. 9 seed Butler Bulldogs 76-63 Wednesday in the first round of the Big East Tournament. St. John’s plays the top seed in the tournament, Marquette, led by second year head coach Shaka Smart and unanimous first-team all conference guard Tyler Kolek, in the quarterfinal round Thursday.
St. John’s started the game with a 54.3 FG% in the first half to build a 44-29 halftime lead and led by as many as 21 at one point in the second half. The Bulldogs were able to cut the deficit down to 9 following a three from Simas Lukosius that made it 61-70 with 3:43 left to play, but could not get any closer as AJ Storr, who finished the afternoon with 15 points for the Red Storm, subsequently made four consecutive free throws to help close out the contest.
Lukosius and Jalen Thomas led the Bulldogs with 23 and 20 points, respectively, in the losing effort. Butler finished the season with a 14 – 18 record.
This was the first ever meeting between St. John’s and Butler in the Big East Tournament.
