11/1/2017 basketball Edit

St. John’s Rolls to 84-52 Win in Exhibition Opener

St. John's Athletics

Press Release

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John’s men’s basketball team cruised to a 32-point victory in its exhibition opener on Wednesday night, downing the American International College Yellow Jackets, 84-52, at Carnesecca Arena.

Shamorie Ponds led the way for the Red Storm with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The sophomore from Brooklyn also added six rebounds.

Marvin Clark II tallied a double-double in his first competitive action at Carnesecca Arena, netting 12 points and grabbing a game-high 14 boards.

Ponds and Clark II led five Johnnies in double figures, as Marcus LoVett added 14, while Bashir Ahmed chipped in 11 and Tariq Owens posted 10 on 4-of-5 shooting.

Redshirt sophomore Justin Simon made his competitive Carnesecca Arena debut alongside Clark II, dishing out a game-high seven assists and surrendering no turnovers. The Temecula, Calif., native also added six points.

Freshman Bryan Trimble Jr. chipped in six points on a pair of 3-pointers.

The Red Storm came out firing, as LoVett and Ponds drained 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to open the game. After a pair of empty trips, Ponds added a layup followed by a thunderous dunk from Clark II, as the Johnnies jumped out to a 10-0 lead 2:05 into the contest.

The Red Storm continued to pour it on over the next few minutes, increasing its advantage to 18, 26-8, on an Ahmed triple with just under 12 minutes to play in the opening half.

A three-ball from Kassim Kaba cut the Red Storm lead to 11 near the midway mark of the period, but the Johnnies quickly built its advantage back to 18, 43-21, on a Ponds layup just about four minutes later.

At the intermission, the Red Storm held a 49-32 over the Yellow Jackets.

AIC narrowed the Red Storm lead to 16 in the opening minutes of the second half, but that was as close as the Yellow Jackets would get, as the Johnnies unleashed a 15-5 run to take a 26-point lead with 11 minutes to play.

The Red Storm led by as many as 33 with just under three minutes left in the game following a dunk from Owens.