Duke’s Shay Selby dribbles away from St. John’s Eugenia McPherson in
the first half of the NCAA Regional semifinal at the Save Mart Center.
Selby finished with a career-high 18 points as the Blue Devils beat
the Red Storm, 74-47.
Esteban Cortez / The Collegian

The second-seeded Duke Blue Devils silenced No. 3 seed St. John’s, 74-47, to advance to today’s Elite Eight matchup against top-seeded Stanford at the Save Mart Center. It is the third-straight year that Duke will play in an NCAA Elite Eight contest.

The Blue Devils (25-5) were led by their lone senior starter, Shay Selby, who finished with a career-high 18 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals in the Fresno Regional semifinal.

St. John’s (24-10) went up early, jumping out to a 15-7 lead with 15:10 left in the first half. Duke bounced back, however, going on a 15-4 scoring run to close out the half on top, 36-25.

Duke’s Chelsea Gray, a Stockton native, scored 13 points, eight steals and four rebounds and assists in her Central Valley homecoming.

The Blue Devils finished with four players scoring in double digits. Tricia Liston and Elizabeth Williams finished with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Duke was electric from the field, making 53.7 percent of its shots from the field. The Blue Devils also were consistent from 3-point range, shooting 30.8 percent for the game.

St. John’s Da’shena Stevens scored a game-high 19 points while adding five assists. Stevens was 8-of-14 from the field, and 3-of-5 from the free-throw line. But the shots weren’t falling in for the Red Storm, which shot just 34.5 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Duke outrebounded St. John’s 35-31, and were led by Haley Peters’ seven-rebound effort. The Red Storm’s Nadirah Mckenith pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

The Blue Devils are looking for their first trip to the Final Four since 2006 and the fifth time in school history.