St. John's University Athletics
Bell Leads BC Past St. Johns, 81-63
2/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The win was the fourth straight and seventh in eight games for the Eagles (15-9, 8-5), who moved within a half-game of Villanova for second place in the Big East's East Division. The top two teams in each division get a bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.
Graduate student Anthony Glover (Bronx, N.Y.) tied his season high with 22 points for St. John's (12-12, 5-9), which lost its fourth game in a row and the sixth in the last seven games.
Bell, who leads the Big East in scoring at 25.3 points per game, was 8-for-16 from the field, including 3-for-7 from 3-point range, and 14-for-16 from the free-throw line.
The Eagles shot 50 percent from the field (26-for-52) in a game that lacked any kind of tempo and was never closer than 13 points over the final 5:49.
Ryan Sidney added 16 points for Boston College, while Craig Smith had 12 and Nate Doornekamp 10.
Senior guard Marcus Hatten (Baltimore, Md.), who leads the Red Storm in scoring at 21.8 points per game, finished with 15 points, none after sustaining a left thigh bruise with 9:45 to play. He was 7-for-16 from the field with six assists and six turnovers. Junior Grady Reynolds (Abbeyville, Ala.) scored a career-high 12 points off the bench, with seven rebounds.
St. John's finished with a 40-31 rebound advantage, including 26-14 on the offensive end.
Boston College won the first meeting this season 84-82 on Feb. 5. It is the first time the Eagles swept two games in one season from the Red Storm since 1995-96.
The Red Storm shot 37.5 percent (24-of-64) from the field, 15.4 percent from three-point land (2-of-13) and 68.4 percent from the free throw line (13-of-19).
St. Johns returns to action on Sunday, hosting fifth-ranked Duke at Madison Square Garden. The game, which will be shown on CBS-TV and 1050 AM ESPN Radio, tips off at noon.
