RJ Luis Jr. scored 13 of his 24 points in the second half, including two key baskets in the final 3 1/2 minutes, as St. John’s never trailed and pulled away late for a 77-64 victory over visiting Harvard on Saturday in Queens, N.Y.
Luis shot 9 of 18 and converted a dunk with 3:31 left and a putback layup with 2:11 left to give the Red Storm (6-2) a 73-60 lead after they allowed Harvard to get within eight points. Luis also grabbed 10 rebounds for his third double-double this season.
Kadary Richmond added 18 points and eight rebounds to help St. John’s bounce back from two losses last weekend in the Bahamas. Simeon Wilcher added 12 and freshman Jaiden Glover contributed all 11 of his points before halftime as St. John’s shot 44.3 percent and withstood shooting 22.2 percent (6 of 27) from behind the arc.
Chandler Pigge scored 15 points as Harvard (2-6) lost its second game this season against a power conference opponent. Robert Hinton, Evan Nelson and Louis Lesmond added 11 apiece as the Crimson shot 36.1 percent, made 27.6 percent from 3 (8 of 29) and got outscored 42-20 in the paint.
The Red Storm scored the game’s first nine points and raced out to a 24-8 lead on consecutive 3s by Glover, the second with 7:44 remaining. After Harvard cut the lead to 33-26 on two free throws by Pigge with 1:33 remaining, Glover gave St. John’s a 40-28 lead at halftime by hitting a desperation 3 before the buzzer.
A basket by Richmond opened an 18-point lead a little over two minutes into the second half and St. John’s allowed Harvard to keep hanging around. The Crimson got within 52-42 on a 3-pointer by Lesmond with 11:26 left and trailed 58-50 with 8:04 left after Pigge split a pair at the line.
Harvard kept hanging around and was within 63-55 after Hinton hit a jumper with 5:40 left resulting in Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino calling a 30-second timeout After the timeout, Nelson’s layup made it 65-57 with 4:27 remaining before St. John’s pulled away in the final minutes.
–Field Level Media
