St. John's used a 21-of-25 performance at the free throw line and several late stop to come away with a 75-72 win over Butler Saturday afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
 
Julian Champagnie led the Red Storm with 21 points and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line.
 
The game featured 11 ties and 13 lead changes with the final tie coming 68-68 with 2:41 to play. The Red Storm's final seven points came at the free throw line (in eight attempts) as they didn't attempt a shot from the field in that final stretch.
 
"We struggled in the second half keeping (St. John's) off the free throw line," said Butler coach LaVall Jordan as the Red Storm went 16-for-20 at the stripe over the final 20 minutes. "We weren't disciplined against their cutting. If you shoot 52 percent and hit 10 three-pointers, you need to do enough on the defensive end to pull out the win."
 
Butler went 10-for-28 from behind the three-point line and shot 52 percent from the field overall. The Bulldogs only attempted five free throws.
 
Bo Hodges led the Bulldogs with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting. The 22 points were the most for Hodges in a Butler uniform and included a career-high four three-pointers. He added a team-high seven rebounds. Bryce Nze added 14 points and six rebounds for Butler (11-12, 4-8 BIG EAST).
 
Champagnie led four St. John's players in double figures. The Red Storm shot 48 percent from the field, but only 2-for-16 from three-point range. St. John's committed only six turnovers.
 
St. John's improves to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in conference play.
 
Both teams shot better than 50 percent in a first half that featured 10 of the lead changes and six of the ties, including a knotted 41-41 contest after 20 minutes of play.
 
The teams will meet again Feb. 18 in Queens, N.Y. in a game that was originally scheduled for Dec. 23, but had to be postponed due to COVID issues within the Red Storm program at the time.
 
The Bulldogs are back in action Tuesday night, traveling to Creighton. The 9 p.m. (Eastern, 8 p.m. Central) tip will air on CBS Sports Network.