Joel Soriano had another double-double for St. John’s Tuesday night, when the Red Storm never trailed in a 95-68 win over visiting Long Island in a battle of local rivals in New York.
Soriano, who entered Tuesday leading Division I with 12.7 rebounds per game, finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes Tuesday. It was his seventh double-double in eight games this season.
Andre Curbelo led all scorers with 18 points for St. John’s (8-0), which is 8-0 for just the third time since 1990. The 1990-91 team opened 9-0 while the 2018-19 team began the season 12-0.
David Jones scored 14 points while Rafael Pinzon had 14 points off the bench. Posh Alexander, who missed Saturday’s game against Niagara with a concussion, added 12 points and eight assists.
Jacob Johnson scored 17 points for Long Island, which fell to 1-5 in its first season under head coach and former NBA star Rod Strickland. RJ Greene finished with 13 points while Marko Maletic had 11 points. Quion Burns (12 points, eight rebounds) flirted with a double-double for the Sharks, a member of the Northeast Conference.
St. John’s scored the game’s first four points as Long Island missed its first four shots. The Sharks got within 8-6 on Johnson’s jumper with 15:16 left before the Red Storm took control with an 18-3 run in which Alexander scored seven points. Pinzon’s basket with 11:42 remaining gave the hosts a double-digit advantage for good at 19-8.
Long Island, which was 1 for 8 with two turnovers during the run by St. John’s, scored nine of the next 13 points before the Red Storm ended the half with a 14-2 run, including scoring the final 10 points to take a 44-20 lead.
Maletic hit a layup to open the second half for the Sharks, but St. John’s went on an 11-2 run to open its first 30-point lead. Long Island got as close as 67-44 on Burns’ 3-pointer just before the midway point of the half before the Red Storm scored 17 of the next 23 points to open their biggest lead at 84-50 with 4:41 left.
–Field Level Media