St. John’s Downs Central Connecticut, 87-57

Saturday, November 9

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

4 p.m.

St. John's University

2-0

Central Connecticut State

0-2

Central Conn. St.

St. John's

11/9/2019 9:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Mustapha Heron explodes for 30 points to lead the Red Storm to its second-straight victory on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's men's basketball team notched its second-straight 30-point victory, as the Johnnies rallied past Central Connecticut State, 87-57, on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena.

Mustapha Heron erupted for 30 points, shooting 10-of-15 from the floor while burying a career-high six three-pointers to help the Red Storm improve to 2-0 on the campaign.

LJ Figueroa finished with 17 points going 5-for-10 from distance. The Lawrence, Mass., native also recorded six rebounds to go along with a game-high six assists. Julian Champagnie was the third Johnnie to notch double-figures by scoring 10 points to go with eight rebounds.

Damien Sears was a spark off the bench for the Red Storm, as he led the team with 11 rebounds while recording eight points on 4-of-8 shooting in a productive 13 minutes of action. The junior college transfer from Western Oklahoma State pulled down 10 of his boards after intermission.

As a team, St. John's shot 44.7 percent from the field and outscored Central Connecticut 38-14 in the paint. The Johnnies' tenacious defense forced 21 turnovers, which were converted into 24 points.

The Red Storm doubled up Central Connecticut in the latter stanza, outscoring the Blue Devils 48-24 in the final 20 minutes. St. John's busted the game open by recording 20-straight points in less than five minutes, an offensive surge that was fueled by a trio of three-pointers from Figueroa.

After leading by six points at the break, St. John's saw its advantage cut in half 16 seconds into the second frame when Jamir Coleman knocked down a three-pointer to make it a 39-36 contest. The Johnnies quickly answered and never looked back after going on a 24-1 run that featured nine consecutive made field goals.

Champagnie helped jumpstart the offensive surge with back-to-back buckets that were followed by a steal and slam by Heron to open a double-digit lead, 46-36, with 17:36 to go. Figueroa was responsible for nine of the team's next 11 points and gave St. John's a 21-point cushion with his fifth triple of the game less than two minutes later.

The Johnnies continued to pour it on Central Connecticut with Champagnie and Greg Williams, Jr. throwing down dunks that were followed by a Sears' layup to put St. John's ahead 63-37 with just under 14 minutes to play.

St. John's defense suffocated the Blue Devils during this stretch, forcing seven turnovers while holding them without a field goal for more than six minutes.

The Red Storm's advantage ballooned to 35 thanks to another 17-6 run that put St. John's up 87-52 with just over two minutes left in the contest. Heron sparked that spurt with his sixth three-pointer of the night.

Despite getting off to an early 13-4 advantage, the Red Storm couldn't create much separation from Central Connecticut in the opening stanza. Heron scored 19 of the team's 39 first half points on 6-of-8 shooting to offset a 9-for-29 field goal showing from the rest of the squad.

In addition tying for seventh place on the program's single game chart with six three-pointers on Saturday, Heron also eclipsed the 1,500-point mark with the second 30-point outburst of his career.

St. John's returns to action on Tuesday, playing host to New Hampshire at 7 p.m. inside Carnesecca Arena. The contest will be televised nationally on FS2 and over the airwaves locally on 970 AM WNYM.