SAN DIEGO — Rick Pitino is now in his sixth decade of coaching, and he claims he had never studied more film of an opponent than he did this week to prepare St. John’s for Northern Iowa.The 73-year-old coach is still putting in the effort he expects from his players, and it propelled his revitalized program to an outstanding start to the NCAA Tournament.Zuby Ejiofor had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Bryce Hopkins added 13 points and fifth-seeded St. John’s beat Northern Iowa 79-53 on Friday night for its second March Madness victory since 2000.Oziyah Sellers scored 11 points for Pitino’s gathering Red Storm (29-6), who have won 20 of 21 since early January in increasingly impressive fashion. With a fluid, balanced offensive effort against the nation’s stingiest scoring defense, St. John’s jumped to a huge early lead at Viejas Arena and never trailed the 12th-seeded Panthers (23-13).“We’re playing really good basketball right now,” said Ejiofor, the Big East player of the year who also blocked four shots. “The effort is there. We’re competing on both sides of the ball. But I feel we can still take it to a whole new level.”The New York City program resurrected by Pitino ended its 25-year NCAA Tournament victory drought last season. After rolling through the Big East tournament last week, Pitino’s current team looks p …
