St. John’s offense was clicking on all cylinders tonight in their 80-55 rout of Central Connecticut State

  • Central Connecticut State 55 (0-3)
  • St. John’s 80 (2-0)
  • Final, Box Score
  • Carnesecca Arena, Queens, NY

From the opening tip tonight at Carnesecca Arena, the St. John’s offense was able to stay in a groove and they did not look back as they routed Central Connecticut State by a final score of 80-55. For the second straight game, the Red Storm had four players in double figures led by Shamorie Ponds and his 21 points.

Early in the game, the Blue Devils had an 11-9 lead at about the 15-minute mark. That’s when the Red Storm offense kicked it into high gear and went on a 34-16 run to end the first half.

On offense, Ponds was the team’s leading scorer and his 21 points mark the 12th time in his St. John’s career he has scored 20 or more points in a game. He had nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals. One of his assists came on a great pass in the second half in transition

It was the three-point shot that was in great form for St. John’s. They were 9-for-21 as a team from downtown. Marcus LoVett was scoreless in the first half but had 15 points (three 3’s in the second half). Plus, freshman Bryan Trimble Jr. had a pair of threes and eight points off the bench.

Since St. John’s doesn’t have much size, they are going to need their guards to help out with rebounds. Justin Simon did just that tonight as the Arizona transfer had the first double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) of his career to go along with three assists and three steals. Of his 11 rebounds, four were of the offensive variety.

After being outrebounded by a large margin against New Orleans on Friday, St. John’s was able to have the rebounding edge against Central Connecticut State tonight (36-27). Plus, the offensive rebounds were 12-4 in favor of St. John’s.

Defensively, St. John’s was active in getting deflections and their tight defense forced many turnovers from Central Connecticut State, including many traveling violations. In total, the Red Storm forced 21 turnovers and got 31 points off of those mistakes.

If there was one negative to point out from tonight’s game, it is that Central Connecticut State was able to score in the frontcourt with some easy baskets at times. The duo of Mustafa Jones and Deion Bute were a combined 14-of-21 from the floor. Bute led all Blue Devils players with 19 points and had nine rebounds in the loss.

Next Game

St. John’s is back in action on Thursday night at Carnesecca Arena when they take on Nebraska (2-0) as part of the Gavitt Games (Big East vs. Big Ten). You can watch the game on FS1 at 6:30 p.m. ET. Nebraska isn’t projected to be an NCAA Tournament team, but the Cornhuskers give the Red Storm a chance to play a team in a major conference.