This is why St. John's brought Rick Pitino back to New York City. For night's like Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. A full house, a sea of red, countless standing ovations and a lot of ear-splitting roars from a very appreciative - and long suffering - Red Storm crowd.
All of it was on display Saturday night at MSG with St.John's looking like it hasn't looked since the Chris Mulling-Walter Berry days of the 1980s. Somewhere the late, great Lou Carnesecca was smiling. And wearing red.
As the final seconds counted down on the clock of the BIG EAST Tournament championship game, with the scoreboard reading, St. John's 82, Creighton 66, RJ Luis (6'7''-G/F) Jr. and Zuby Ejiofor (6'9''-F) took turns dribbling away the last few ticks. Fans roared, there were high-fives all around the stands. Even grown men, St. John's lifers, no doubt, wiped away tears.
After 25 years, St. John's (30-4) was the BIG EAST Tournament champion once again. It was New York's team once again after more than two decades of mediocrity and irrelevancy.
“Great win for the city,” St. John's coach Rick Pitino said. “Great win for our university. You hear it all along that it's New York's team, and it truly is. As a New Yorker myself, I'm very, very proud that St. John's has gotten to this level. We're all excited. We're all thrilled.”
Long after the final horn had sounded most of the sellout crowd had stayed put as one Johnnies' player after another took their turns climbing the ladder to cut down their piece of the championship nets. A souvenir that will last them a lifetime. The crowd stayed because there was no place they'd rather be. Where would they go anyway? The party was right in front of them and they had waited far too long not to celebrate this one to the hilt.
They even got to see Luis Jr. climb the ladder before hoisting himself onto the rim, the perfect perch to soak in all that was unfolding down below him.
“As a little kid you dream (about) these special moments during March Madness and the tournament championship,” Luis Jr. said. “When I was little I would see the guys go up the ladders and cut the nets. Obviously to do it myself is incredible. It's a great feeling. I'm just truly blessed.”
Much like they did against Marquette in the semifinals, the Johnnies started slow offensively, much to the irritation of the St. John's crowd that came for a party and a coronation and were in instant gratification mode. The Red Storm was down as much as eight points in the first half and trailed 28-25 at halftime. The pro-St. John's crowd which flooded the Garden tried to will the Johnnies' offense to start clicking. But it wasn't until the 14:26 mark of the second half that Luis Jr. drained a three-pointer to knot the game at 38-all and send the Garden into a full on frenzy.
It only got more frenzied when, following a three-pointer by Creighton's Steven Ashworth (6'1''-G-2000) which gave the Bluejays a three-point lead, the Johnnies proceeded to go on a game-changing 32-14 run. When the dust settled the Johnnies were up 70-55 with just over 5:00 to play and the party was about to start as Creighton never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
“I am very blessed for this opportunity,” Luis Jr. said. “Like Coach P says, there's not that many second chances in life so when the opportunity presents itself, you've got to grab it by the neck. I mean, I'm just truly happy. This is incredible just to come from last year to this year and to see the transformation. Coach P is the mastermind behind all this. It's truly special.”
Luis Jr., the BIG EAST Player of the Year, came up big in the biggest game of the year as he finished with a double-double of 29 points and 10 rebounds and was named the championship game's Most Outstanding Player. Kadary Richmond (6'6''-G-2001) also posted a double-double with 12 points and a dozen boards and Ejiofor finished with 20 points.
Then as St. John's donned their championship hats and shirts and danced in the confetti shower, knee-deep in championship hoopla, you had to feel for Creighton (24-10) as the Bluejays quietly left the court, now 0-5 in BIG EAST title games. Senior big man Ryan Kalkbrenner, 0-3 in his career chasing an elusive title, said winning this tournament was the main reason he returned to Creighton for a fifth year. Once again, however, he came up a bit short.
“It's hard to get to this game, let's be honest,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said. “We've been fortunate to be here quite a few times. Unfortunately we haven't been able to finish the job. (But) I'm proud of what these guys have accomplished to this point and the season is not over.”
Yes, Creighton is a lock for the NCAA Tournament and Kalkbrenner said the Bluejays will take the pain of this loss for a day before preparing for what they hope will be a long NCAA Tournament run.
“When you're in your fifth year of college basketball you learn how to turn the page,” said Kalkbrenner, who finished with 15 points and seven boards. “Obviously we're all going to be disappointed about this one. We got an off day tomorrow to be a little disappointed and then turn the page. I know we're all going to be locked in and ready to go on Monday.”
St. John's is now the BIG EAST Conference regular-season champion and the tournament titleist in the same season. It's been twenty five years since the Johnnies won their last tournament title, the longest amount of time between tournament championships in BIG EAST postseason history.
But better late than never.
“I am, as a New Yorker, about as proud as any person could be because when I hear St. John's is New York's team and we're New York strong and we represent New York, that makes me feel awesome inside,” Pitino said. “So for New York, for St. John's, to see that crowd tonight, it's an extra special feeling for me.”

Courtesy of bigeast.com

Big East Final:
St. John's - Creighton 82-66
Big East Semifinals:
St. John's - Marquette 79-63
Creighton - UConn 71-62
Big East Quarterfinals:
St. John's - Butler 78-57
Creighton - DePaul 85-81
UConn - Villanova 73-56
Xavier - Marquette 87-89
Big East First Round:
Villanova - Seton Hall 67-55
Georgetown - DePaul 67-71
Providence - Butler 69-75