Big East Sports Blog

St. John’s held on for a 62-59 victory over Marist on Friday night in the first round of the Aeropostale Holiday Festival in New York.  The Red Storm will play in the championship game against Virginia Tech on Saturday, after the Hokies thrashed Hofstra 84-59. The win improves St. John’s record to 6-4.

St. John’s led at halftime 31-24 and looked to have things well in hand during the second half, using a 20-4 run to hold an 11 point lead, 53-42.  Their lead expanded at 57-46 before Marist went on an 11-0 run to tie the game at 57.  Jay Gavin had a team-high 15 points for Marist, 8 of his 11 coming in the Red Foxes’s 11-0 run.  Marist opened the second half with a 14-2 run, hitting their first five baskets and erasing a seven point deficit.  St. John’s came out of the locker room with cement in their shoes, starting the second off on a lethargic 1-for-8 shooting from the field.

Anthony Mason Jr. and Tomas Jasiulionis each had 12 points for the Red Storm, who handed Marist their third straight loss.  One last gasp for the Red Foxes came on a missed three pointer by Gavin that would have tied the game at 62, with three seconds left.

Tulane used an impressive 20-4 run in the second half to defeat St. John’s in the Outrigger Rainbow Classic on Saturday 79-71. 

The Red Storm were unable to achieve their sixth win on the season (5-4) after leading at halftime 38-32.  Look no further than that brutal 20-4 run they had put on them by the Green Wave, a stretch in which St. John’s didn’t help themselves, going more than eight minutes without a bucket.  That was the difference in the ballgame.  Tulane found ways to score in the second half.  St. John’s did not.

The run put Tulane on top 66-56 with 2:22 to go and Green Wave put this one away at the foul line from there.  Tulane buried 13-of-16 free throw attempts in the remaining two minutes of play to come away with the win, improving their record to 8-4.

Anthony Mason Jr. led St. John’s with 18 points, but the defense for the Red Storm allowed Tulane to shoot 58 percent from the field.  Kevin Sims and Matt Wheaton did the most damage for the Green Wave, each scoring 21 points.

St. John’s will be off until next Friday, Dec. 28th when they’ll return home to face Marist at 8:30 p.m.

Five St. John’s players scored in double figures as the Red Storm defeated host Hawaii 68-62 on Friday night in the consolation game of the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic.

Anthony Mason Jr. led the way for the Red Storm with 17 points.  D. J. Kennedy and Justin Burrell each scored 12 points and Eugene Lawrence added 10 points.  St. John’s improves to 5-3, while Hawaii drops to 3-6, falling three games under .500.

Matt Gibson led Hawaii with 17 points and Bobby Nash chipped in with 12 points.  Hawaii struggled shooting from beyond the arc, going 2-for-17 (11.8 percent). 

Hawaii pulled to within one of St. John’s, 60-59, but the Red Storm scored five straight points, a three-pointer from Lawrence and a breakaway dunk by Paris Horne put St. John’s up 65-59 with 35 seconds left to play in the game.

St. John’s shot a season-best 60 percent from the field, including a white-hot 71.4 percent in the first half.

The Red Storm will play in the Rainbow Class third place game on Saturday, Dec. 22nd against Tulane at 6:30 p.m.

Leon Williams’ last second layup with 0.2 left lifted Ohio past St. John’s 71-69 in the first game of the Outrigger Rainbow Classic on Wednesday night, giving Ohio their seventh win on the season (7-3) and dropping St. John’s to a game over .500 at 4-3.

Williams led the way for Ohio with a double-double, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds, both were game highs.  Bubba Walther netted 15 points and Jerome Tillman added 11 points for the Bobcats. 

D.J. Kennedy paced the Red Storm with 17 points, and Eugene Lawrence chipped in with 16.  Lawrence nailed a timely 3-pointer to tie the game at 69 with 1.6 seconds to play.  The tie ballgame was short-lived, however, as Walther threw the inbounds pass the length of the court to Williams, who put in the game-winning layup.

Ohio led by as many as nine with seven minutes to go, but couldn’t put the Red Storm away, as St. John’s used an 11-4 run to pull to within two points at 58-56 with two minutes to go.

The Red Storm will try to snap their 3-game slide when they visit Hawaii on Friday, Dec. 21st at 4 p.m.