Providence College Athletics

Saturday, January 3
New York, N.Y.
12:00 p.m.

Providence College

8-6,1-2Big East

77
at
71

St. John's

9-5,2-1Big East

1st half1
2nd half2
FinalF
Providence
31
46
77
St. John's (NY)
38
33
71
Oswin Erhunmwunse dunks the ball at Madison Square Garden versus St. John's.

Men’s Basketball Earns A Comeback Win at No. 25 St. John’s, 77-71, In Madison Square Garden

1/3/2026 3:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Stefan Vaaks led the Friars with 16 points.

NEW YORK, N.Y.  - The Providence College men's basketball team defeated the No. 25 St. John's University Red Storm (9-5, 2-1 BIG EAST), 77-71, on Saturday, Jan. 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. With the win, Providence improved to 8-6 overall and 1-2 in BIG EAST play. Freshman Stefan Vaaks (Tabasalu, Estonia) led the Friars with 16 points. Freshman Jamier Jones (Sarasota, Fla.) recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.  

"That was a great BIG EAST basketball game." Head Coach Kim English said. "I felt like at the end of the game we were disciplined. The players deserve all the credit for finding a way to win this game."    

FIRST HALF: 

• After a 13-0 St. John's run, Jaylin Sellers (Columbus, Ga.) converted on a driving effort to make it 13-2 going into the first media timeout (15:34).  

• Jason Edwards (Atlanta, Ga.) earned a trip to the line and converted on one attempt to make it 15-3, St. John's (14:38).  

• Edwards drove through the lane and converted on an and-one opportunity to cut into the deficit (13:23).  

• Corey Floyd Jr. (Franklin, N.J.) connected on a floater to make it 17-8, St. John's (12:06).  

• Floyd Jr. found Oswin Erhunmwunse (Benin City, Nigeria) for an alley-oop dunk, and on the following possession, Sellers connected on a driving effort to make it 19-12, St. John's (10:12). 

• Floyd Jr. got out in transition and converted on a layup to pull the Friars within five, 19-14 (9:06).  

• Edwards recorded a steal and got out on the fast-break to make it a one-possession game, 19-16 (8:43).  

• Out of a media timeout, Jamier Jones (Sarasota, Fla.) cleaned up an Edwards miss with a tip-in put-back layup to make it 22-18 (7:43).  

• Edwards drew a foul on a three-point attempt and was able to convert on two of the three free throws to pull the Friars within three, 23-20 (6:39).  

• Duncan Powell (Dallas, Texas) recorded his first points of the night after he gathered a loose ball under the hoop before laying it in, making it 24-22, St. John's (5:42).  

• The Friars took their first lead of the night on a Jones put-back layup, 25-24 (4:40).  

• Sellers connected on a deep three-point attempt off a pass from Edwards to give Providence the two-point lead, 28-26 (3:46).  

• Sellers made a heavily contested layup to make it 36-31, St. John's, with under a minute remaining in the half.  

• St. John's led going into the locker room, 38-31.  

• Providence shot 12-28 (42.9%) from the field, 1-6 (16.7%) from three, and 6-12 (50.0%) from the free-throw line.   

• St. John's shot 13-40 (32.5%) from the field, 5-19 (26.3%) from three, and 7-15 (46.7%) from the free-throw line.    

• Sellers led the Friars with nine points on 4-6 shooting. 

• Zuby Ejiofor led all scorers with 18 points. He also added 11 rebounds.  

• Seven different Friars registered points in the first half.  

SECOND HALF: 

• Sellers opened the second half with a jump shot in the lane as St. John's held a 38-33 lead. Jones slammed a put-back dunk and sank the and one free throw that cut the lead to three (18:35).  

• Vaaks sank his first three of the contest to cut into St. John's lead. As the Friars held St. John's scoreless from the field for over three minutes, Sellers made a layup and cut the lead to 41-44 (15:28).  

• St. John's extended the lead back out to 10 points with a three-pointer with 14 minutes remaining in the second half.  

• The Friars were then held scoreless from the field for over four and a half minutes but continued to make free throws as St. John's led 61-52 at the under-eight media timeout (7:52). Out of the timeout, Vaaks sank a deep three in transition as the Friars trailed by seven.  

• Jones made a spinning layup in transition, and Erhunmwunse followed with a fast break dunk on the ensuing possession that brought the Friars within one at 64-63 (4:44).  

• As the teams traded buckets, Vaaks sank an and one three –pointer and made the free throw as St. John's led by one. Jones made a pair of free throws and gave the Friars a lead at 69-68 with 2:28 remaining in regulation.  

• St. John's responded with a pair of free throws before Vaaks connected on his third three of the game and gave the Friars a 72-70 lead (1:57).  

• Erhunmwunse slammed an emphatic dunk with 32 seconds remaining that extended the Friar lead to four. Vaaks scored a transition layup with 11 seconds left in the period as Providence held a 77-71 lead at the final buzzer.  

• The Friars held St. John's scoreless from the field for the final three minutes of the game.  

HIGHLIGHTS: 

• Providence shot 25-64 (39.1%) from the field, 6-18 (33.3%) from three, and 21-28 (75.0%) from the free-throw line.   

• St. John's shot 20-71 (28.2%) from the field, 7-31 (22.6%) from three, and 24-37 (64.9%) from the free-throw line.     

• The Friars finished with five players in double figures: Vaaks (16), Jones (15), Sellers (15), Edwards (11) and Erhunmwunse (10).  

• Ejiofor led all scorers with 33 points and added 15 rebounds. Ejiofor attempted 23 free throws and made 14.  

• Jamier Jones recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. 

• The Friars held a large advantage in points in the paint, scoring 38 to St. John's 20.  

• The Friars have registered a 59-68 mark all-time versus St. John's.  

• The Red Storm are the Friars' second most common opponent with 127 games played against St. John's.  

• The Friars are 22-37 all-time on the road versus the Red Storm.  

• Go Brenda! Great game! 

UP NEXT: 

The Friars will return home to host the No. 4 University of Connecticut Huskies on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on Peacock.  

-GO FRIARS!-