Darling scores season-high 17 points as No. 22 St. John's beats DePaul 79-66 in Big East opener

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St. John's guard Dylan Darling goes up for a shot during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against DePaul, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

St. John's head coach Rick Pitino yells from the sideline during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against DePaul, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa) — St. John's guard Dylan Darling goes up for a shot during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against DePaul, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

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9:26 PM on Tuesday, December 16

By LARRY FLEISHER

NEW YORK (AP) — Dylan Darling scored a season-high 17 points off the bench and gave No. 22 St. John’s a lift with his 3-point shooting as the Red Storm opened Big East play with a 79-66 victory over DePaul on Tuesday night.

Playing their only conference game inside Carnesecca Arena this season, the Red Storm (7-3, 1-0) led virtually the entire way and avoided another slow start after missing 12 of their first 13 shots in Saturday’s 91-64 win over Iona at Madison Square Garden.

Darling shot 5 of 9 from the field and hit a trio of 3s to help the Johnnies finish with 10 in his second game since being supplanted by Ian Jackson as the team's starting point guard. The 6-foot-1 junior entered 1 of 15 from outside the arc in his first eight games at St. John's after transferring from Idaho State.

Joson Sanon added 15 points and tied a career high with nine rebounds. Jackson scored 10 and Zuby Ejiofor had nine points, seven rebounds and four blocks — giving him 20 over the last three games.

Ejiofor became the first Big East player with 20 blocks in a three-game span since Chris Obekpa for the Red Storm in 2013.

St. John’s shot 45% and got 32 points from its reserves, including nine from Ruben Prey on 4-of-4 shooting — including a 3.

Kaleb Banks led the Blue Demons (8-4, 0-1) with 19 points and CJ Gunn added 15. The Blue Demons shot 39% and went 7 of 25 (28%) from 3-point distance.

Up next

DePaul: Will host No. 5 UConn on Sunday.

St. John’s: Will face Kentucky on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic at Atlanta.

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