Harrison and Sampson Lead St. John's 73-57

              Ultimately St. John's bounced back nicely from their season opening loss to Wisconsin. The 73-57 margin by which they beat Wagner out of the Northeast Conference is deceiving. The game saw the Red Storm sprint to an early lead thanks to their transition game as a team and the individual play of the guys who figure to be their top two scorers all season long; D'angelo Harrison and Jakar Sampson. They combined with some good early moments from Orlando Sanchez and a strong effort off the bench from Jamal Branch to give St. John's  to a seemingly comfortable 36-22 halftime advantage.  Head Coach Steve Lavin noted that his  team  did a better job defensively than they had in Friday's loss even as he acknowledged that said progress was incremental.

"....we were better on the defensive end of the floor tonight", Lavin said. The most telling statistical sign of that improved defense may have been in their limiting of the Seahawks to just 9 free throws, thus playing that good "D" without fouling. Even as Wagner rallied to cut the deficit to as few as six points behind their two small but sturdy senior guards Latief Rivers and Kenneth Ortiz the Red Storm was able to find answers. And even though their three point shooting abandoned them (0-10) they found efficient offense in the paint and especially at the free throw line where the Red Storm shot a combined 29-36 including 11-11 from Harrison.

              Harrison led the winners with 25 points while Sampson added 13. Rivers led Wagner with 18 points while Valparaiso transfer Jay Harris added 14.

     St. John's, which evened its record to 1-1 continues its home non conference schedule Tuesday November 19th against defending Patriot League champions Bucknell