Figueroa Leads the way as St. John's Earns Sixth Straight Win.

       In what would ultimately be a convincing 85-64 win for St. John’s Shamorie Ponds played as he had in the win at Rutgers on November 16^th, putting aside his role as a dominant scorer and helping others, particularly Mustapha Heron and LJ Figueroa to provide the scoring punch. While those two games stand in direct contrast to Ponds’ emergence as both a dominant and more efficient scorer in leading St. John’s to a 6-0 start this season, his 6 assists, 2 turnover 6 rebound effort last night was essential to a winning effort.  While it may have been statistically less impressive than his 35-point 7 assist 7 steal game winning shot, MVP performance a week ago against VCU it was likely every bit as important in the context of the Red Storm’s season. As Ponds took a secondary role, other players flourished, especially sophomore forward Figueroa.

       All season long Figueroa has been an exceptionally reliable second scoring option for St. John’s, as well as the ultimate mismatch guy in Chris Mullin’s offense. And he has played that role not only scoring and creating opportunities for teammates, but he’s done it while averaging a team high 8 rebounds playing much of that time as an undersized front court player.

     “He has great instincts, he really does. He has a really good nose for the ball for rebounds”, coach Chris Mullin said. “He’s got great energy.”

   All of that was on display as the Massachusetts native who arrived via Odessa (TX) JC helped St. John’s take control early with a 20-6 run to start the game. He ended that game with the second double double of his career, scoring 25 points while hauling in 13 boards and adding 5 steals. His triple with just over four minutes left in the opening stanza gave the Red Storm a 43-17 advantage. The second half saw some sloppiness from St. John’s and saw the visitors trim their margin to 15 but they could get no closer.

In addition to Figueroa, St. John’s got 20 points from Mustapha Heron, who bounced back from a poor shooting effort against VCU, while Mikey Dixon continued to provide strong scoring punch off the bench with 14 points on 5-8 shooting that included 4-7 from beyond the arc.

   St. John’s travels to Florida where they will face ACC rival Georgia Tech, and former Christ the King star Jose Alvarado, on Saturday at noon. The game will be part of the Air Force Reserve HoopHall Invitational.