St. John’s outscores Sacred Heart, 104-82

Three days after blowing out St. Francis of Brooklyn, the Red Storm looked to continue their three game streak of winning by 15 points or more. St. John’s kept that streak and the win streak alive in record-breaking fashion. St. John’s defeated Sacred Heart 104-82, a school record for points and the first time St. John’s has scored 100 points since November 11, 2016 against Bethune-Cookman.

First Half

St. Johns started with a display of defensive dominance holding Sacred Heart scoreless through the first three minutes.

After starting the game with a 14-0 lead, St. John’s were able to maintain that lead going into halftime in large part due to the quality ball movement.

Shamorie Ponds put his playmaking skills on display in the first half when he only attempting 2 Field Goals. Despite the smaller volume of shots than Ponds had historically attempted, Ponds still impacted the game by dishing out 5 of the team’s 15 first half Assists.

Only one player who logged minutes for St. John’s finished the first half without an Assist: Marvin Clark II.

Wendell Cruz

Clark, however, contributed to the assist numbers by consistently knocking down shots. Clark led all scorers going into the half with 23 points off of 7 of 9 from the field and 6 of 8 from deep.

As a result of Ponds quality playmaking and Clark’s shotmaking, St. John’s went into the half up 53-38.

Second Half

If starting the game with one 14-0 run was good, then St. John’s going on a 18-0 run early in the second half must be great.

Ponds, Mustapha Heron, and LJ Figueroa put up 8,6, and 4 points, respectively, during that run to start the second half.

Defensively, St. John’s held Sacred Heart to a more modest 14 points over the first 12 minutes of the second half.

After Clark was able to knock down the open looks in the first half, Figueroa and Heron took advantage of the opportunity to do so in the second half. Heron had 13 second half points off of 5 of 7 shooting from the field, while Figueroa had 11 off of 5 of 8 from the floor.

About halfway through the second half, Coach Mullin put Greg Williams Jr. back into the game after Williams scored 4 first half points off of 2 field goal attempts.

With just under 4 minutes left in the half, Josh Roberts and Marcellus Earlington checked into the game for the second time this week, and Roberts was able to throw down a thunderous dunk in that time.

Wendell Cruz

Soon thereafter, St. John’s finished the game with a school record 104 points, winning 104-82.

St. John’s Red Storm

Marvin Clark II: 23 Points (7/13 FG, 6/11 3PT), 6 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 1 Turnover

Mustapha Heron: 23 Points (8/12 FG, 5/6 3PT), 3 Assists, 1 Turnover

Shamorie Ponds 13 Points (3/7 FG, 3/7 3PT), 5 Rebounds, 9 Assists, 1 Turnover

Sacred Heart Pioneers

Sean Hoehn: 16 Points (4/9 FG, 1/3 3PT), 3 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Turnovers

Koreem Ozier: 15 Points (6/11 FG, 3/6 3PT), 5 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 4 Turnovers