St. John’s stuns No. 6 UConn behind Joel Soriano’s double-double

HARTFORD, Conn. — St. John’s on Sunday did something it hadn’t done in 35 years — beating UConn in Hartford.

Joel Soriano scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Red Storm (13-6, 3-5 Big East) ahead of the No. 6 Huskies (15-4, 4-4) who are four of five after starting have lost season with 14 wins in a row.

St. John’s scored 22 points from 21 UConn turnovers and outclassed the Huskies 44-28 in the paint.

The double-double was Soriano’s 16th of the season. AJ Storr and Posh Alexander each added 14 points for the Red Storm, who have won back-to-back after a five-game losing streak.

“This game proves a lot,” said Soriano. “It shows what we can do when we’re together, when we’re connected. It just shows that we are doing good when we put our hats on.”

Dylan Addae-Wusu and Rafael Pinzon each added 12 points for St. Louis. Andre Curbelo had 10 games.

Jordan Hawkins led all scorers with a career-high 31 for UConn, but 20 of those came in the first half. Alex Karaban had 16 points and Adama Sanogo added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies.

The game was tied at half-time, but St. John’s scored the first two baskets after the break and led the entire second half.

The Red Storm went up 68-60 after a breakaway dunk by AJ Storr after UConn missed four shots that could have reduced the lead to four points. That was part of a 9-0 run that gave the Red Storm a 13 lead. They were up to 16 points up to 2 minutes from time.

“Today is a good day to be a Johnnie,” said coach Mike Anderson. “I thought our boys had developed in the right direction and today we combined 40 minutes.”

The Huskies led by as much as eight points in the first half before St. John’s fought back to take a 27-22 lead after a 12-2 run. The teams led the rest of the half and went into the break with 38 points.

“Their program was a lot harder than our program today and I didn’t see it coming,” said UConn coach Dan Hurley. “We looked weak and unprepared. They were just a lot tougher.”