SAN DIEGO — Church Bell’s Arrival
In a thrilling finish, Idaho State’s Dylan Darling broke out of a significant shooting slump to propel St. John’s into the Sweet 16. He executed a buzzer-beating layup with his right hand, sealing a 67-65 victory over Kansas after the Johnnies nearly squandered a 14-point lead.
Following the dramatic win at Viejas Arena, Darling was immediately celebrated by his teammates. Just 14.1 seconds left on the clock, Darin Peterson made a push for Kansas, taking St. John’s defenders by surprise with his four fouls.
With only 3.8 seconds remaining, St. John’s inbounded to Darling, who made a determined drive for the decisive basket. Remarkably, those were his only points in the game.
In mid-February, after a critical 3-pointer against Xavier, his coach joked about the ball being “as big as a church bell.” Well, it turns out he might have been onto something.
St. John’s is set to meet Duke in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Washington, D.C., marking their first time in that round since 1999.
Zuby Ejiofor contributed significantly with 18 points, nine rebounds, and four assists, while Bryce Hopkins matched his score. Ian Jackson added 10 points off the bench, and Peterson led Kansas with 21 points.
Impressively, the Red Storm have now won 21 of their last 22 games.
Interestingly, St. John’s didn’t start strong this time around—it was their first shaky performance in five outings. They initially surged ahead with an 11-0 run but then encountered a scoring freeze. At one point, they didn’t score until 5:45 into the game, allowing Kansas to catch up with a 9-0 run.
Hopkins broke the drought with a missed 3-pointer that hit the back rim, but contributions from Joeson Sanon and Ruben Prey allowed St. John’s to enter halftime with an advantageous eight-point lead.
While facing a taller Kansas, St. John’s relied on long-range shots, hitting 7 of 23 in the first half. Vidunga, hampered by two early fouls, played just 12 minutes, limiting his impact.
Defense played a key role for St. John’s in those first 20 minutes, as they restricted Kansas to just 34.5 percent shooting and forced nine turnovers, leading to 12 points off those mistakes.
Although Peterson started strong with two 3-pointers, he only managed to score a total of nine points in the first half with a 2-of-6 shooting performance.
Moving forward, St. John’s tightened their grip on the game, incrementally widening their lead to ten points by the 12-minute mark in the second half. In the opening stages of the half, Kansas struggled, achieving only four field goals, equal to their number of turnovers.
When Mitchell scored consecutively, the lead for St. John’s peaked at 14 points. At that moment, there were only 8 minutes and 51 seconds left before they could secure a Sweet 16 spot. Little did they know, the final moments would be dramatic, to say the least.
