St. John's beats DePaul 79-74 in OT

NEW YORK (AP) — Freshman JaKarr Sampson scored six of his 13 points in overtime and St. John's extended its winning streak to five games with a 79-74 victory over DePaul on Wednesday night at Carnesecca Arena.

D'Angelo Harrison, the Big East's second-leading scorer at 19.8 points, had 17 to lead the Red Storm (14-7, 6-3 Big East), whose winning streak is one game short of how many conference wins they had last season. St. John's has won the last eight games against DePaul.

Brandon Young had 21 points for the Blue Demons (10-10, 1-6), who have lost five straight and seven of eight.

Sampson's rebound basket with 1:49 left in overtime gave the Red Storm the lead for good at 75-74. Young missed a foul line jumper and, as Sir'Dominic Pointer went in for a layup, Young fouled him hard and a flagrant 1 was called. Pointer made both free throws — the Red Storm went 4 for 10 from the line in overtime — and even though St. John's didn't score on the ensuing possession, Sampson went 2 for 4 from the line to seal the win.

Jamal Branch made two free throws for St. John's with 1:18 left in regulation to tie it at 69. DePaul was called for offensive goaltending on its next possession. Sampson missed a jumper for the Red Storm and Young missed a 3-point attempt with 15 seconds left.

After a scramble near midcourt fouling the inbounds, Sampson missed a shot from down low at the buzzer. A foul was called against DePaul but the officials went to the monitor and ruled the foul came after the buzzer.

Phil Greene had 13 points for St. John's and Pointer had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Cleveland Melvin had 10 points and 13 rebounds for DePaul, which finished with a 52-39 advantage on the boards.

DePaul finished the first half with a 28-15 edge on the boards — 12-4 on the offensive end — although St. John's led 38-31, the largest lead for either team to that point.

St. John's freshman Chris Obekpa, who leads the nation in blocked shots at 4.6 per game, had five to give him 96 for the season.