Red Storm Returns to Action on Friday Night against Bowling Green

QUEENS, N.Y. – After a convincing win over Loyola Maryland in the team's season opener on Tuesday night, the Red Storm will return to action at Carnesecca Arena on Friday, welcoming Bowling Green to campus for a 6:30 p.m. start.

The game will be broadcast nationally on FS2 with Rich Ackerman and Jim Spanarkel on the call. John Minko and Brian Mahoney will also call the action live from Queens on 570 WMCA. The Red Storm's audio broadcast will also be available through TuneIn Radio.

The Johnnies will look to improve to 2-0 on the season for the fifth-straight year when they welcome the Falcons to Carnesecca Arena for the sixth meeting all-time between the two squads. The Red Storm will also seek to continue a streak of early-season success at home; since 2005-06, the Johnnies have won each of their first two games played inside Carnesecca Arena.

The first St. John's student-athlete to earned BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year honors since Malik Sealy in 1991, Shamorie Ponds lived up to the hype in the first game of his junior campaign on Tuesday night. The Brooklyn native tallied 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting in addition to dishing out a team-high four assists. A member of preseason watch lists for the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and Bob Cousy Award, Ponds is just three points away from cracking the top 30 on the program's all-time scoring list. In 64 career games, Ponds has now scored 20 or more points on 28 occasions.

Tuesday also marked the much anticipated Red Storm debut of Auburn transfer Mustapha Heron. Donning red and white for the first time in competitive action, Heron displayed some of the talent that made him an All-SEC selection a season ago. The Waterbury, Conn., native tallied 15 points and seven rebounds, converting on five of his 10 tries from the floor, including a perfect 2-of-2 showing from three-point range.

Heron was one of seven players overall to make their Red Storm debuts against the Greyhounds. Mikey Dixon, the 2017 MAAC Rookie of the Year at Quinnipiac, poured in 13 points while LJ Figueroa, a First Team NJCAA All-American last season, narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and eight assists. Figueroa, who averaged 21.4 points per game last year on 55.5 percent shooting at Odessa College in Texas, wowed the Carnesecca Arena crowd with a handful of monstrous slams in the season opener.

Bowling Green visits Queens following a 91-52 win over Division II Tiffin University to open its 2018-2019 campaign on Tuesday night. Led by fourth-year head coach Michael Huger, the Falcons finished 16-16 overall and 7-11 in the MAC last season.

The team returns its top three scorers from last year, all of whom averaged 11-plus points per game and reached double figures in their first outing of 2018-19. Junior guard Dylan Frye led the way on Tuesday with 20 points and five rebounds in that season-opening victory.

Friday's game will be the sixth all-time matchup between the Red Storm and the Falcons in a series that dates back to 1944. Bowling Green owns a 3-2 all-time advantage against the Johnnies and last came to Queens for the 1994 Lapchick Tournament. Felipe Lopez scored a game-high 22 points for the Red Storm in that outing, a 77-64 victory.

Tuesday's game will be the second of two campus site games for the GotPrint.com Legends Classic presented by Old Trapper. The semifinal and final rounds of the event will be held on Nov. 19 and 20 and Barclays Center in Brooklyn. St. John's will face off with Cal in the opening game before taking on either VCU or Temple the following day.

Red Storm Returns to Action on Friday Night against Bowling Green

Next Event

Players Mentioned

LJ Figueroa

Mustapha Heron

Shamorie Ponds

St. John's University Athletics