St. Johns RJ Luis gets emotional after trying road to Big East Player of the Year honors

First, Maria Luis began breaking down, as she watched her son walk to the stage to accept his Big East Player of the Year award.Join Post Sports+ for exciting member-only features, including real-time texting with Zach Braziller about the inside buzz on St.

John’s.Then, RJ Luis Jr.

followed her lead.He couldn’t help himself, as much as he tried.The tears began flowing.“I told my mom before I went up to make my speech, ‘Please don’t cry, because once you cry, I’m going to start crying,’ ” Luis said.

“Obviously, this is very emotional for us — not just for me, but the whole family.”It was a memorable moment for the St.John’s junior and his family.

Not only were his parents, Maria Luis and Reggie Luis Charles, in attendance, but so were his younger sisters, Rylee and Rachael.He went from an unheralded three-star recruit out of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami to a promising freshman at Massachusetts to one of the premier wings in the country as a junior.His sophomore year at St.

John’s was inconsistent, mostly due to shin splints in each leg that required surgery last April.On Wednesday, he became the first Johnnie in 39 years — since Walter Berry in 1986 — to win the league’s most prestigious honor.“If I told you [I thought this was going to happen], I would be lying to myself.My main focus was just trying to get back to myself, trying to be healthy,” said Luis, who beat fellow unanimous All-Big East first team selections Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton, Kam Jones of Marquette and Eric Dixon of Villanova.

“It just shows that with determination and success, you can get anything done.I have to give the credit to my teammates.

Without them I wouldn’t be considered for this award, because of how good of a season we’ve had as a whole.”It was 22 months ago that Luis had to make a difficult decision after entering the transfer portal.He had options.

He took visits to Louisville and Texas A&M, along with St.Jo...