St. John’s Mauls Mercer, 109-79, in Season Opener

Wednesday, November 6

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

6:30 p.m.

St. John's University

1-0

109

Mercer

0-1

Mercer

St. John's

109

St. John’s Mauls Mercer, 109-79, in Season Opener

11/6/2019 11:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Team scores highest point total in 20 years in first game under Mike Anderson

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's men's basketball team kicked off the Mike Anderson Era in style on Wednesday night, recording the team's highest point total in more than 20 years with a 109-79 win over Mercer at Carnesecca Arena.

The last time St. John's scored more than 109 points prior to Wednesday night was a 115-70 win against Niagara on Jan. 4, 1999.

The Red Storm's 109 points were the highest total in a season opener in more than three decades, as the Johnnies last scored more to kick off a season in a 126-81 win over Southern on Nov. 28, 1986, behind a game-high 33 points from Willie Glass. The Red Storm's 109 points were also the highest ever recorded by a St. John's coach in his debut, eclipsing the previous mark of 105 set by Mike Jarvis in 1998.

The Red Storm's 59 first-half points were the most scored by the Johnnies in an opening stanza since posting 59 against Chaminade during the 2015 Maui Invitational.

As a team, St. John's shot 50 percent from the floor and sank eight of its 19 attempts from three-point range (42.1%). The Johnnies also converted on 25 of their 31 tries from the charity stripe, good enough for an 80.6 percent success rate.

The Red Storm's all-out pressure was on full display at Carnesecca Arena, as the Johnnies forced 24 Mercer turnovers, including 11 steals, and scored 40 fast-break points. Those 24 turnovers led to 30 points for St. John's.

Mustapha Heron poured in a game-high 25 points, converting on seven of his 13 tries from the floor, including a 4-for-6 showing from three-point range. The senior guard also sank seven of his eight attempts from the charity stripe in his 21^st career outing with 20 or more points.

LJ Figueroa, a Preseason All-BIG EAST selection alongside Heron, tallied 18 points and a game-high four steals. The junior wing was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe and logged a game-high +38 on the evening.

Last season as a freshman, Marcellus Earlington recorded 31 points in just 59 minutes of action spread across 15 appearances. On Wednesday night, he scored more than half his point total from a year ago, posting 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting to go along with five rebounds in 19 minutes of action.

Nick Rutherford and David Caraher rounded out the crew of St. John's scorers in double figures, registering 14 and 12 points, respectively. Rutherford was one of the most active players on the floor, dishing out eight assists and swiping three steals in addition to scoring his highest point total since 2016-17 at Florida Atlantic. His eight helpers were one off his career high of nine. Caraher, who made his St. John's debut after sitting out last year as a transfer from Houston Baptist, pulled down seven rebounds in addition to reaching double figures for the 24^th time in 30 career opportunities.

Julian Champagnie stuffed the stat sheet in his St. John's debut, as the freshman tallied eight points, eight rebounds and a block in 24 minutes of action.

Josh Roberts also made his presence felt inside, tallying career highs with nine points, seven boards and four blocks. Fellow sophomore Greg Williams Jr. logged six points, three rebounds and two assists.

After the team's first field goal attempt of the season found the iron, the next four were nothing but net, as St. John's opened the game on a 9-2 run. Another 8-0 run shortly thereafter gave the Johnnies their first double-digit edge of the night, 17-6, with less than five minutes gone in the contest. Figueroa had nine points in the opening five minutes of action.

A 14-0 St. John's run near the midway mark of the half ballooned the Red Storm lead to 24, 39-15, with just over eight minutes to go in the first half. Mercer committed four turnovers in the span of three minutes during the spurt.

The Red Storm led by as many as 30 in the first half before entering the locker room with a 59-38 advantage.

Mercer cut the St. John's lead to 16 with a 7-2 run to begin the second stanza, but the Red Storm quickly built the lead back to almost 30 before the midway mark of the half.

The Red Storm would lead by as many 34 before closing out the contest, 109-79.

St. John's returns to action on Saturday, playing host to Central Connecticut State at 4 p.m. inside Carnesecca Arena. The game will be broadcast live nationally on FS2 and locally on 570 AM WMCA.