It was a laugher early, and a cruise down Flatbush late.
The #17/ #19 St. John's Red Storm (11-1) handled the Tulane Green Wave (9-3) in the Barclays Center, 82-57, and look ready for Big East Conference play against Seton Hall on Wednesday.
St. John's was led by the all-out effort on defense from Sir'Dominic Pointer, who logged seven steals (a new career-high) to go with a career-high 24 points (also a career high, on 9/13 shooting), two blocks and four rebounds. Steve Lavin called him like "tornado ripping through Barclays", and called Pointer the team's "juice" in the TV postgame interview.
D'Angelo Harrison added 21; Rysheed Jordan added 12.
Tulane enters American Conference play on a two-game losing streak. Jonathan Stark scored 15, Louis Dabney added 12.
The Green Wave shot 24% from beyond the arc and had 17 turnovers in the game, giving up the ball on 22.9% of their possessions - their season average.
Tulane looked energetic early, but their style - dribbling to get free for jump shots - played well to St. John's defensive strengths. Balls were snatched out of dribblers' hands, the Green Wave struggled to find flow early and late, and the Johnnies found their scoring confidence early. The Red Storm were able to fast break all over the Green Wave.
With 12 minutes left in the first half, Chris Obekpa sat with two fouls after a call while defending Tulane big man Dylan Osetkowski.
So the rest of the team went on a 30-11 run, forcing six steals, and defending the Green Wave, who posted an offensive efficiency of 0.65 in the half and didn't get much better in the second.
St. John's still has Duke in late January to close out non-conference play.
Game Notes
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St. John's is on a seven-game winning streak.
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St. John's is 11-1 for the first time since the 1985-86 season.
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D'Angelo Harrison is now St. John's 4th all time leading scorer.
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Christian Jones played in both halves, grabbing four rebounds.
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Felix Balamou played, scoring four points - even making a jump shot.
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Joey Delarosa scored his first points on a free throw for the Red Storm. The walk-on and brother of Adonis scored three points and grabbed four rebounds.
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Myles Stewart, and Amar Alibegovic got some second-half action. Alibegovic scored on a three-pointer in the last ten seconds. David Lipscomb also logged a minute of playing time.
Next
Next for St. John's is a game in Newark, NJ, against the Seton Hall Pirates at noon on Wednesday to kick off the Big East's New Year's Eve marathon to start conference play. The Pirates will be without Isaiah Whitehead, nursing an injury