St. John's scored 3-pointers on five straight possessions to close out the first half, and the Red Storm went on to defeat the Creighton Bluejays 83-67 on Wednesday night at Omaha, Neb.

The win was the first for the Red Storm in Omaha and denied Bluejays head coach Greg McDermott win No. 200 in his ninth season at Creighton. St. John's (16-5, 4-5 Big East) had lost two in a row and four of five. Creighton (12-9, 3-5) had a two-game win streak snapped.

Marvin Clark II started the onslaught from beyond the arc in the final 2:30 of the first half to give the Red Storm a 32-29 lead.

Ty-Shon Alexander's 3-point jumper for Creighton tied the game at 32-all, and that's when Shamorie Ponds went to work, connecting on back-to-back shots from long range to put St. John's back up.

Greg Williams Jr. didn't miss a beat, and Ponds followed with another 3-pointer to close out the half and give St. John's a 44-34 halftime lead.

The Red Storm outscored the Bluejays 13-6 to start the second half and opened up a 57-40 lead on an LJ Figueroa's 3-point jumper.

The Bluejays went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 71-60 with 8:03 to go, but that's the closest Creighton would get.

Ponds, the preseason Big East Player of the Year, led the Red Storm with 26 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Mustapha Heron added 17 points and seven boards, and Figueroa chipped in with 15 points.

St. John's connected on 13 of 31 3-point attempts (41.9 percent) while Creighton connected on 9 of 34 (26.5 percent).

Alexander, the Big East Player of the Week after averaging 22.5 points in Creighton's past two games, led the Bluejays with 15 points. He's now made a three in 25 straight games.

Martin Krampelj scored 14 points while Marcus Zegarowski added 13.

The Red Storm swept the season series against the Bluejays, having defeated Creighton 81-66 earlier in January behind 22 points from Ponds.

--Field Level Media