NEW YORK (AP) — Kadary Richmond scored a season-high 24 points, including the tiebreaking jumper with three seconds left, and No. 15 St. John’s held off Providence 68-66 on Saturday after blowing a 19-point lead in the final nine minutes.
RJ Luis Jr. added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Red Storm (19-3, 10-1 Big East), off to the program's best start in 39 years. They have won eight straight games and 14 of 15.
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St. John's guard Simeon Wilcher (7) reacts after St. John's gained possession of the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's guard RJ Luis Jr. (12) shoots a free throw during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) attempts to steal the ball from Providence forward Christ Essandoko (2) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) dribbles the ball against Providence forward Christ Essandoko (2) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino yells on the court during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's guard Kadary Richmond (1) dribbles the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's took a one-game lead in the conference standings when No. 9 Marquette lost to No. 25 UConn on Saturday night.
Jabri Abdur-Rahim had a season-high 27 points off the bench to help Providence (11-11, 5-6) rally at Madison Square Garden. He made two of his eight 3-pointers during the furious comeback before Bensley Joseph hit a tying 3 with 33 seconds left — his only basket of the game to go with 12 rebounds and seven assists.
Following a timeout, Richmond used a screen by Zuby Ejiofor to get separation from Jayden Pierre and drain a pull-up jumper from the foul line. Joseph missed a heave from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer.
Richmond shot 10 of 14 from the field and had eight rebounds and eight assists. Ejiofor scored 13 for St. John’s, which shot 38% from the floor.
Providence: Entered averaging 12 turnovers per game but matched that total in the first half and finished with 20 overall.
St. John’s: Point guard Deivon Smith looked rusty at times after missing three of the previous four games with a right shoulder injury. He shot 1 for 10 from the field and finished with three points and six assists in 28 minutes off the bench.
Corey Floyd Jr. and Abdur-Rahim made consecutive 3s that pulled Providence to 62-61 with 2:21 remaining.
Providence’s top two scorers, Joseph and Pierre, combined for only 14 points on 5-of-23 shooting.
Providence hosts Creighton on Wednesday. St. John’s plays Marquette on Tuesday night at MSG before visiting UConn on Friday.
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St. John's guard Simeon Wilcher (7) reacts after St. John's gained possession of the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's guard RJ Luis Jr. (12) shoots a free throw during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) attempts to steal the ball from Providence forward Christ Essandoko (2) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) dribbles the ball against Providence forward Christ Essandoko (2) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino yells on the court during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
St. John's guard Kadary Richmond (1) dribbles the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Providence Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
HAMIMA, Syria (AP) — A trickle of civilians left a contested area east of Aleppo on Thursday after a warning by the Syrian military to evacuate ahead of an anticipated government military offensive against Kurdish-led forces.
Government officials and some residents who managed to get out said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces prevented people from leaving via the corridor designated by the military along the main road leading west from the town of Maskana through Deir Hafer to the town of Hamima.
The SDF denied the reports that they were blocking the evacuation.
In Hamima, ambulances and government officials were gathered beginning early in the morning waiting to receive the evacuees and take them to shelters, but few arrived.
Farhat Khorto, a member of the executive office of Aleppo Governorate who was waiting there, claimed that there were "nearly two hundred civilian cars and hundreds of people who wanted to leave” the Deir Hafer area but that they were prevented by the SDF. He said the SDF was warning residents they could face “sniping operations or booby-trapped explosives” along that route.
Some families said they got out of the evacuation zone by taking back roads or going part of the distance on foot.
“We tried to leave this morning, but the SDF prevented us. So we left on foot … we walked about seven to eight kilometers until we hit the main road, and there the civil defense took us and things were good then,” said Saleh al-Othman, who said he fled Deir Hafer with more than 50 relatives.
Yasser al-Hasno, also from Deir Hafer, said he and his family left via back roads because the main routes were closed and finally crossed a small river on foot to get out of the evacuation area.
Another Deir Hafer resident who crossed the river on foot, Ahmad al-Ali, said, “We only made it here by bribing people. They still have not allowed a single person to go through the main crossing."
Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the SDF, said the allegations that the group had prevented civilians from leaving were “baseless.” He suggested that government shelling was deterring residents from moving.
The SDF later issued a statement also denying that it had blocked civilians from fleeing. It said that “any displacement of civilians under threat of force by Damascus constitutes a war crime" and called on the international community to condemn it.
“Today, the people of Deir Hafer have demonstrated their unwavering commitment to their land and homes, and no party can deprive them of their right to remain there under military pressure,” it said.
The Syrian army’s announcement late Wednesday — which said civilians would be able to evacuate through the “humanitarian corridor” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday — appeared to signal plans for an offensive against the SDF in the area east of Aleppo. Already there have been limited exchanges of fire between the two sides.
Thursday evening, the military said it would extend the humanitarian corridor for another day.
The Syrian military called on the SDF and other armed groups to withdraw to the other side of the Euphrates River, to the east of the contested zone. The SDF controls large swaths of northeastern Syria east of the river.
The tensions in the Deir Hafer area come after several days of intense clashes last week in Aleppo city that ended with the evacuation of Kurdish fighters and government forces taking control of three contested neighborhoods.
The fighting broke out as negotiations have stalled between Damascus and the SDF over an agreement reached last March to integrate their forces and for the central government to take control of institutions including border crossings and oil fields in the northeast.
Some of the factions that make up the new Syrian army, which was formed after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December 2024, were previously Turkey-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The SDF for years has been the main U.S. partner in Syria in fighting against the Islamic State group, but Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization because of its association with Kurdish separatist insurgents in Turkey.
Despite the long-running U.S. support for the SDF, the Trump administration has also developed close ties with the government of interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and has so far avoided publicly taking sides in the clashes in Aleppo.
Ilham Ahmed, head of foreign relations for the SDF-affiliated Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria, at a press conference Thursday said SDF officials were in contact with the United States and Turkey and had presented several initiatives for de-escalation. She said that claims by Damascus that the SDF had failed to implement the March agreement were false.
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Associated Press journalist Hogir Al Abdo in Qamishli, Syria, contributed.
Members of the Syrian military police stand at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Members of the Syrian Civil Defense, stand next to their vehicles at a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A displaced Syrian family rides in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army next to a river in the village of Rasm Al-Abboud, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Displaced Syrian children and women ride in the back of a truck near a humanitarian crossing declared by the Syrian army in the village of Hamima, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
Displaced Syrians at a river crossing near the village of Jarirat al Imam, in the eastern Aleppo countryside, near the front line with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Deir Hafer, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
