St. John's upsets No. 23 UConn as teams renew rivalry

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Posh Alexander scored 18 points to lead five St. John's players in double figures and the Red Storm came from behind to upset No. 23 UConn 74-70 on Monday.

Marcellus Earlington scored 15 points and Julian Champagnie, the Big East's leader scorer, had 10 of his 12 points in the second half. Rasheem Dunn scored 11 points and Dylan Addae-Wusu chipped in with 10 for the Red Storm (8-7, 3-6) who won for just the second time in five games.

R.J. Cole scored 18 points and Tyrese Martin had 14 for UConn (7-2, 4-2), which played its third consecutive game without leading scorer James Bouknight, who is recovering from elbow surgery.

UConn led by as many as 14 points in the first half and held the lead for the first 33 minutes of the game. It was 35-32 at the half and the Huskies extended that to 49-41 after a 6-0 run.

Alexander tied the game at 59 with a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer by Earlington gave the Red Storm their first lead of the game, 64-62, with just over four minutes left.

Champagnie’s driving layup made it 71-67 with 1:17 left, and St. John's held off the Huskies down the stretch.

BIG PICTURE

St. John's: The Red Storm's defense, which had been forcing an average of 18 turnovers a game, got another 18 on Monday.

UConn: Coach Dan Hurley says the Huskies expect to be without Bouknight for about four weeks after surgery on Jan. 12 to remove bone spurs from his left elbow, which he injured while diving for a loose ball on Jan. 5.

UP NEXT

St. John's: The Red Storm do not have another game scheduled until Jan. 27, when they visit DePaul.

UConn: The Huskies had been scheduled to host Xavier on Wednesday, but that game was postponed because of coronavirus concerns within the Musketeers' program. UConn's next scheduled game is Saturday at Creighton.

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