Joel Soriano had 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting to lead St. John’s to a 91-45 pounding of Holy Cross on Saturday in New York.
RJ Luis chipped in 14 points, Jordan Dingle added 11 and Chris Ledlum notched 10 points for the Red Storm (4-2), who shot 50.6 percent from the field and outrebounded the Crusaders 48-23. Daniss Jenkins had six assists for St. John’s in a complementary role, while Zuby Ejiofor pulled down seven boards.
Caleb Kenney scored eight points to pace Holy Cross (2-5), which looked nothing like the team that upset Georgetown earlier this month. The Crusaders shot just 36.2 percent from the field – including 6 of 24 in the second half – and finished with 20 turnovers.
Holy Cross actually led 18-10 about eight minutes into the game before St. John’s began to take control.
Nahiem Alleyne’s jumper ignited a 26-5 run by the hosts. Glenn Taylor drained a 3-pointer shortly thereafter before two buckets by Ledlum put the Red Storm in front 22-20.
With about five minutes left in the first half, Soriano converted back-to-back baskets to give St. John’s its first double-figure lead, 34-23. Roughly three minutes later, Ejiofor’s dunk put the hosts ahead by 15 for the first time, and Brady Dunlap’s 3-pointer with about a minute left created a 44-28 margin at the break.
Any hopes of a Holy Cross comeback were dashed early in the second half, as St. John’s scored 13 of the first 15 points. Taylor’s 3-pointer ignited the second-half onslaught, and Dingle added a pair of buckets to help the Red Storm go in front 57-30.
The lead swelled to 33 midway through the session on consecutive baskets by Drissa Traore and then up to 41 on Alleyne’s 3-pointer with 4:47 to go. Simeon Wilcher’s 3-pointer with just under a minute remaining gave St. John’s its largest lead – and created the lopsided final margin.
–Field Level Media