Max Stus, DePaul

CHICAGO - Press material from St. John’s proclaims: “We Are New York’s Team.” DePaul’s Max Strus might proclaim in response that St. John’s is his team.

Strus scored a career-high 43 points, fellow senior Femi Olujobi added 23 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, and the third senior on this year’s team, Eli Cain, added a game-high five assists as DePaul rallied from a rough start to beat St. John’s 92-83 at Wintrust Arena on Sunday’s Senior Day.

“This time of the year, with a lot going on and fatigue and everything else, to have [Strus, Olojubi and Cain] have the performances that they had, is tremendous,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said.

DePaul (14-13, 6-10 Big East) has now swept St. John’s and Seton Hall this season. The Blue Demons also handed the Red Storm one of its two losses in Queens, New York, earlier this season.

But this isn’t Queens, and by the time Strus was removed from the game with 15 seconds left and the victory in hand, the crowd response was more like something one might experience at Madison Square Garden, as his exit was as beautiful vocally as it was physically, with the 5,376 fans in attendance chanting “Strus!, Strus!”

“Being here for three years and through up and downs, and a lot more downs than ups, you try every game to keep pushing,” Strus said. “ I appreciated [Coach Leitao doing that] for all the hard work I have put in for three years”

Strus’s points and 14 made field goals today are Wintrust Arena records. His 43 points ties him with Howie Carl for No. 6 all-time at DePaul for points in a game. Strus eclipsed the 1,000 point mark at DePaul today.

DePaul did not score its first field goal of the game until 15:11 of the first half on a dunk by Olujobi. The Blue Demons fell behind 20-9 at 12:20, as St. John’s shot 73 percent from the field.

But what happened from that point on is something Red Storm coach Chris Mullin could only describe after the game as “mysterious.” And perhaps also “Max.”

Cain’s rebound and beautiful no-look pass on the break to Olujobi on his right and subsequent dunk made it 31-27 at 5:21. Olujobi’s one-handed tip off a rare Strus miss got the Blue Demons to 31-29, the closest they had been since 10:55. But three consecutive 3-pointers by the Red Storm’s Shamorie Ponds gave the Red Storm a 42-33 lead at the half.

Ponds led St. John’s (20-10, 8-9) with 29 points. The Red Storm had been 16-2 this season when leading at the half.

Strus and Cain had combined for 67.8 percent of DePaul’s 3-pointers this season. Cain picked up his fourth foul at 15:03 of the second half, but Strus shot 6-10 from behind the arc to help balance that fulcrum. Strus’s six 3-pointers moves him past Brandon Cole for fifth all-time at DePaul.

“I take those same shots every game,” Strus said. “My teammates did a great job of setting screens and finding me and when they knew I was hot they kept coming. Coach kept calling my number and I just kept making plays for the team.”

Strus averaged 16.7 ppg against the Red Storm before today, and he averaged 22.0 ppg while shooting 52.2 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from 3-point range in his last three games.

Seniors are supposed to lead and Strus did that vocally, laying on the ground and screaming after picking up a charge on Mustapha Heron with just under two minutes left and DePaul leading 84-77.

Olujobi has scored in double figures in 14 of the last 15 games. His Senior Day concluded with he and his parents emotionally taking in the post-game presentation and what he has done at DePaul.

“I realized the great relationship that I have with Coach Leitao,” Olujobi said. “Just going out there and hugging him and realizing that next year I am not going to see him every day. I appreciate him so much, he has done so much for me.”

Cain finished his last home game as the first player in program history with at least 1,400 career points, 350 assists, and 150 three pointers.

Strus’s 3-pointer from right corner at 11:17 gave DePaul its first lead of the game at 57-55, and his off-balance right-handed runner in the lane at 3:55 making it 78-76 DePaul was evidence of his ability to score from any point on the floor today. He also shot nine for nine from the free throw line.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our ability to hang in there,” Leitao said. “ We were down long portions of the game and waiting for those moments. And as has happened a lot of times this year when we have been down, if we just control ourselves and don’t turn the ball, get good shots and try to defend better, we give ourselves a chance.”

But for all the celebration of these three seniors, it was Strus who honed in on the big picture, one that perhaps he, Olujobi, and Cain, have laid a foundation for.

“We won. That’s really all that matters.”

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