UNCASVILLE, Conn. - St. John's dropped its final contest of the non-conference portion of the schedule falling to undefeated No. 25/23 South Carolina (11-0), 75-61, as part of the Hall of Fame Shootout doubleheader at Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday.

Durand Johnson (Baltimore, Md) led three St. John's double-figure scorers with 16 points to go with a team-high five rebounds. He was named the Hall of Fame Shootout's Most Outstanding Player. The Most Valuable Player award from the winning team went to Gamecocks' guard Duane Notice, who scored 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Federico Mussini (Reggio Emilia, Italy) delivered his 10th double-digit scoring effort for St. John's (7-6) finishing with 12 points, while Christian Jones (Arlington, Texas) contributed 10 points. The Red Storm shot 44.9 percent (22-of-49) from the floor, including a 53.8 percent effort in the opening 20 minutes.

"Overall tonight I was happy with our effort and our energy," said St. John's Head Coach Chris Mullin. "There were some areas [that need work], missed some open threes and a lot of free throws obviously, but overall I think that effort and energy will win us some games."

South Carolina got a double-double effort from Michael Carrera, who went for 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Gamecocks shot 47.4 percent (27-of-57) from the floor and made 7-of-13 3-pointers (53.8 percent).

St. John's was off to a quick start as a Ron Mvouika (Paris, France) 3-pointer lifted the Red Storm to a 9-4 lead at the 16:30 mark. Layups from Mussini and Johnson extended the early advantage to six points, 13-7, which was the Red Storm's largest lead of the contest.

Carrera answered with a 3-pointer and a fastbreak layup from Notice trimmed the lead to one. Then with the game locked at 18, South Carolina used a 13-1 run to open a 31-19 lead with just over four minutes to play in the half.

"[South Carolina] is a good team and there are going to be runs like that," said Mullin.

The Red Storm cut the deficit in half after back-to-back baskets from Mussini and Johnson's fade away 3-pointer just seconds before intermission. St. John's trailed 40-34 at the break.

St. John's couldn't find a shooting rhythm in the second half and did not get closer than eight after PJ Dozier drained the first bucket of the stanza for South Carolina. The Red Storm shot 34.8 percent (8-23 FG) from the field and 2-for-10 from 3-point territory in the half.

For the second-straight game, St. John's struggled at the free-throw line shooting 12-for-27 (44.4 percent). South Carolina converted 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) free-throw attempts.

"We just have to get better every day," said Johnson "We shoot free throws every day in practice and they'll start to go in. I don't know what it is, but every day is another day to get better at it, so that's what we have to do."

St. John's has an eight-day layoff before returning to action on New Year's Eve for the BIG EAST opener versus Creighton airing on FS1. Tip time is set for 2 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena.