St. Johns Wins 104-99 Over Rutgers in a Compelling Quadruple Overtime

New York, NY

An 18-point deficit couldn’t stop the St. John’s Red Storm from pulling off a thrilling comeback against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a quadruple-overtime exhibition matchup at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, October 18, ending in a 104-99 Red Storm victory.

A familiar matchup between former Big East rivals, the Red Storm and the Scarlet Knights met for their third preseason exhibition game in the last four years and the fourth time since 2017. In two of the last exhibition games, the Red Storm won in double overtime at home before the 2023-2024 season, and Sunday’s game was no different.

At the seven-second mark of the fourth overtime, Keyshawn Hall knocked down two free throws, solidifying the win for the St. John’s Red Storm. But Quinn Ellis was the real game-changer this afternoon for the Storm, with a layup to tie the game at the end of the second half, sending the game to overtime after coming back from an 18-point deficit in the first half.

Keyshawn Hall heading to the free throw line in the fourth overtime after getting fouled with 7 seconds left. Photo courtesy of Nafissatou Yattassaye.

The game came down to a few things: making free throws, optimizing second-chance opportunities, and limiting fouls. Both teams maximized this on both sides of the court, and yet the Johnnies took it all.

“Once they learn how to play together, once they learn how to play defense, rebound the basketball correctly, they’ll get much better,” Rick Pitino, head coach of the St. John’s men’s basketball team, said at the postgame press conference.

The Red Storm, the 2026 Big East champions after defeating the UConn Huskies, were led by Hall with 24 points and 14 rebounds and Ian Jackson who also contributed 24 points. Quinn Ellis and Babacar Sane, added an additional 13 points each.

The Scarlet Knights, a team with a lot of talent are undergoing a temporary coaching change. They were led by Tariq Francis, who ended the night with 24 points. Christian Gurdak added an additional 20 points with 15 rebounds.

For the first half of the game, Rutgers couldn’t have asked for a better 20 minutes. The Knights shot 17-of-30 (56.7%) from the field and 50% from three, forced six turnovers, and scored six points compared to the Storm’s two in second-chance opportunities. This ultimately led the Scarlet Knights to a 46-28 lead and they closed the half on a 10-0 run.

“For the most part, I thought we did a lot of good things,” Rutgers associate head coach Brandin Knight said at the postgame press conference. “We just have to finish. We have to get a little better with our execution down the stretch, and that’s on me.”

The second half of the game changed everything for the Knights. The spark they had seemed to disappear. The Red Storm had a 16-4 run, tying the game at 52 at the 11:58 mark. From there, it was a continuous back-and-forth tradeoff. Until it wasn’t.

At the 23-second mark, Quinn Ellis scored on a driving layup attempt, tying the game at 71-71 and forcing overtime. The Storm shot 15-of-28 (53.57%) from the field and 27.27% from three, but ultimately pulled away in the second half, tying the game.

“We’re really good when we play together and we trust each other,” Francis said during the postgame conference. “In the second half, we took some tough shots. But when we play together, we can be a really good team, defensively and offensively.”

During the next three overtimes, neither team could find a way to pull away and win the game. Finally, in the fourth overtime, the Johnnies started pulling away slowly, leading 100-96 late in the period, ultimately ending with Hall’s clutch free throws to seal the 104-99 win.

Ellis was the momentum shift in this thrilling matchup. When asked about Ellis and how he would use him for the rest of the season, Pitino noted, “I think Ellis is the guy on the basketball team who’s fundamentally sound, knows how to play, and he’s a well-conditioned athlete. He made big plays and helped us win today.”

The Red Storm remain undefeated in preseason (2-0) as they look ahead to the rest of the year.