Summer Hoops Trip to Dominican Republic

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St. John’s Basketball Announces Foreign Trip to Dominican Republic

Red Storm Men’s Basketball Team to Play Three Games in Santo Domingo and Santiago this August​





QUEENS, N.Y. (May 16, 2022) – The St. John’s men’s basketball team will get a head start on the 2022-23 season with a foreign tour to the Dominican Republic this August. The Red Storm will play three games during its eight-day trip, which will include stops in Santo Domingo, Santiago and Punta Cana from August 11-19.



The Red Storm’s foreign tour will feature contests against the Dominican Republic’s senior national team and its under-22 team. Game dates, times and venues will be announced a later date.



“We are looking forward to our foreign tour in the Dominican Republic,” said St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson. “It’s the perfect opportunity for our team to get together before the academic year begins. The bonding that results from extra practice days and games against high level competition will be very beneficial to this team. In addition, the educational and cultural experiences that come with visiting another country will also be invaluable for our student-athletes.”



The NCAA allows teams one foreign trip every four academic years. A foreign trip also affords the opportunity to conduct 10 practices prior to the team’s departure. The men’s basketball program’s last international trip came in August of 2013, when the Johnnies traveled through France, Italy and Spain.



“For us it is an honor to be able to have these friendly matches with St. John's University, since it has been a university that served the Dominicans as well, where great players of our national team have come out. For instance, Luis Felipe López among others,” said Rafael Uribe, President of the Dominican Basketball Federation. “Currently, we have players like David Jones and Joel Soriano and it really fills us with honor to have this University visit us in August. We want to continue these partnerships through the years, because we have a diaspora of more than one million Dominicans throughout New York.”



St. John’s will return eight letterwinners and welcome five newcomers to its roster for the 2022-23 campaign. The Red Storm finished with a 17-15 overall record last season, marking the 89th winning season in program history.



Two members of the Red Storm’s 2022-23 roster are quite familiar with the team’s August destination, as Joel Soriano and DePaul transfer David Jones both boast extensive experience playing with Dominican youth national teams, including a stint as teammates at the 2018 FIBA U18 Americas Championship. Jones was born and raised in Santo Domingo.



Two-time All-BIG EAST selection Posh Alexander is the Red Storm’s top returning scorer after averaging 13.8 points per game last season. A junior guard from Brooklyn, Alexander led the BIG EAST and ranked 11th in Division I with 2.3 steals per game while finishing second in the conference with 5.5 assists per contest. A high school teammate of Alexander’s, Dylan Addae-Wusu averaged 8.5 points per game, good enough for fourth on the team, while his 3.9 helpers per contest ranked second on the team and ninth in the conference. Montez Mathis returns for his second season at St. John’s and his fifth overall at the Division I level. The 6-foot-4 guard from Baltimore started 28 of 32 appearances last season and averaged 8.2 points to go with 3.4 rebounds per game.



Soriano will anchor a front court that also includes Esahia Nyiwe, the team’s most improved player last season, and sophomore O’Mar Stanley. Drissa Traore, a local product who sat out last season as a redshirt, will make his St. John’s debut after practicing with the team in 2021-22.



The Red Storm’s newcomers include two highly touted transfers in Jones and Andre Curbelo. A 6-foot-1 guard from Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, Curbelo is a former top-50 high school recruit and the 2021 Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year who averaged 8.5 points, 3.8 assists and 3.6 rebounds in two seasons at Illinois. Curbelo has extensive experience playing in the youth system of the Puerto Rican national team, as does teammate Rafael Pinzon, who impressed in limited time during the 2021-22 campaign. Last season at DePaul, Jones averaged 14.5 points, good for ninth in the BIG EAST, and ranked 10th in the conference with 7.4 boards per game.



St. John’s will also welcome freshmen in AJ Storr, the no. 84 prospect in the nation according to ESPN, and Kolby King.
 
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