David Jones and Joel Soriano each posted double-doubles Saturday night for St. John’s, which fended off an upset bid by visiting New Hampshire and pulled away for a 64-51 win in Queens, N.Y.
Jones led all scorers with 20 points and added 12 rebounds in his third double-double of the season. Soriano had 14 points and 14 rebounds in his Division I-leading ninth double-double.
AJ Storr scored 13 points and keyed the decisive second-half run for the Red Storm (10-1), which has won two straight.
Matthew Herasme (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Clarence Daniels (11 points, 11 rebounds) each recorded double-doubles for New Hampshire (3-6), which was trying to record its second straight upset of a power conference foe. The Wildcats, a member of the America East, beat Boston College 74-71 in overtime on Wednesday.
Ridvan Tutic also flirted with a double-double for New Hampshire before finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds.
St. John’s led 25-22 at the end of a first half in which the teams combined to shoot just 33.3 percent (22-for-66). Soriano opened the second half with another dunk before Herasame went on a 7-1 run to put New Hampshire ahead and begin a sequence in which the teams traded the lead eight times and were tied twice.
A layup by Jaxson Baker gave New Hampshire its final lead at 39-38 with 12:22 left before St. John’s began taking control. Storr hit book-ending 3-pointers and had eight points in a 10-0 run that spanned just 83 seconds for the Red Storm.
The Wildcats got as close as four points at 51-47 on a layup by Herasme with 6:53 left, but Dylan Addae-Wusu responded with a jumper and Jones scored the next five points in a 7-0 run for St. John’s in which New Hampshire went 0-for-6 with a turnover. The Red Storm led by at least nine the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media
