March 13, 2026; New York, New York, USA; In the first half at Madison Square Garden, Seton Hall Pirates forward Stephen Payne III (6) was stopped by St. John’s Red Storm forward Bryce Hopkins (23) and St. John’s Red Storm forward Jubi Ejiofor (24). Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Image NEW YORK — Zuby Ejiofor scored 20 points as top-seeded St. John’s took control in the second half and held off a late comeback attempt for a 78-68 win over fourth-seeded Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament semifinals on Friday.
The 13th-ranked Red Storm (27-6) advances to Saturday’s title game and will face either second-seeded UConn or 11th-seeded Georgetown. St John’s advanced to the title game in back-to-back seasons for the third time in school history and the first since losing to UConn in 1999 and beating the Huskies the following season.
The Pirates (21-12), who were swept by the Red Storm in three matchups, will wait until Sunday’s selection show to find out whether they will advance to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team for the first time since 2022. Seton Hall entered the game with a NET rating of 53 but fell to 1-6 in Quad One games.
Ejiofor finished 8-of-14 shooting after scoring 21 points in a 13-point win over Providence on Thursday. He had four layups and a pair of dunks for his fourth straight 20-point performance and 11th overall.
Reserve Joson Sanon added 15 points and hit three 3-pointers as the Red Storm beat Seton Hall for the sixth straight time. Dylan Mitchell added 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting with six rebounds and five assists, while Bryce Hopkins had 13 rebounds and a team-leading seven rebounds.
The Red Storm shot 52.1% from the field and made 24 of 30 free throw attempts (80%). St. John’s was mostly active inside the paint, attempting 12 3-pointers, a season low.
Budd Clark led the Pirates with 17 points, but went 6 of 18 with 11 assists and committed four of Seton Hall’s 12 turnovers. Jacob Dar added 13 points and Mike Williams III and Najai Hines each had 10 points. The Pirates twice fell behind by 19 points in the second half before falling behind St. Louis. St. John’s cut the lead to six points before winning.
The Pirates shot 41.5%, missed 15 of their 20 3-point attempts and missed the championship game for the first time since 2019.
The Red Storm scored the first eight points of the game, and Ejiofor’s baseline dunk triggered a Seton Hall timeout with 17:06 remaining. Seton Hall trailed 38-30 at halftime.
The Red Storm took a 19-point lead for the second time when Ruben Prey hit a free throw with 9:56 left.
Seton Hall scored seven straight points following Hines’ layup with 7:42 left to try to get back within 55-43. The Pirates continued to rally and AJ Staton-McCray hit an open corner 3 with 4:41 left to cut the deficit to 62-56.
Ejiofor made a free throw for a layup on the next possession and St. St. John’s hit five free throws over the next two minutes to extend the lead to 69-56 before closing it out.
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
