St. John’s Pushes Past Stony Brook, 89-66

Sunday, December 6

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

2:30 p.m.

St. John's University

4-1

Stony Brook

1-2

Stony Brook

St. John's

12/6/2020 5:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Red Storm records 20 steals in lopsided victory

QUEENS, N.Y. – Trailing by six with five minutes to play in the opening stanza, the St. John's men's basketball team closed the half on a 22-2 run and never looked back, topping Stony Brook, 89-66, at Carnesecca Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The Johnnies (4-1) shot 56.9 percent (33-of-58) from the floor, a new high-water mark for the Mike Anderson Era, but it was the team's defense that once again stole the show.

The Red Storm forced 29 Stony Brook turnovers, 20 of which were the result of St. John's steals. The Johnnies' 20 thefts marked the program's highest single-game total since at least 2005 and were just two off the school record of 22 set against St. Francis Brooklyn on Dec. 1, 1992.

Six of those 20 steals were recorded by Greg Williams Jr., who also matched a career-high with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. The junior guard grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists while surrendering only one turnover in 34 minutes of action.

Two other Johnnies finished in double figures, as Julian Champagnie tallied 16 points and Isaih Moore matched a season high with 12. Champagnie, who had scored 25-plus points in each of his first two appearances this season, added four assists and three steals while Moore grabbed a team-high seven boards in addition to three helpers and three steals.

Posh Alexander finished with six points, four assists and four steals while Dylan Addae-Wusu added registered six points and four assists as well.

Arnaldo Toro and John McGriff also set season highs with seven and five points, respectively. McGriff, a redshirt freshman, also tallied four assists and three rebounds in 14 minutes of action.

Josh Roberts made all three of his field goal attempts to finish with six points.

As a team, St. John's assisted on 23 of its 33 made baskets. Following a 5-for-12 start from the floor, the Red Storm shot 60.9 percent from the field the rest of the way.

After Vince Cole started the scoring for St. John's on the game's opening possession, Stony Brook responded with a 7-0 run to take an early five-point lead.

The Red Storm came back to take the lead twice in the next few minutes, but Stony Brook found it hard to miss early, making 15 of its first 27 field goal tries and moving ahead by as many as six in the closing minutes of the first half.

Trailing 33-27 with five minutes to go, St. John's scored nine straight to anchor a 22-2 run to end the first half. Williams scored nine points to lead the Red Storm during the run, which Marcellus Earlington capped with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Leading by 14, 49-35, at the half, the Red Storm scored eight straight out of the break, extending its run to 30-2 on a Williams triple 90 seconds into the second period.

The Seawolves went on a 9-1 run to pull within 16 with 13 minutes to play, but that was as close as Stony Brook would get down the stretch. St. John's built its lead to 25 on a pair of occasions late in the contest, the latter of which came on a David Caraher jumper with 5:20 to play.

The Red Storm will close out the pre-conference portion of its schedule on Tuesday, playing host to Rider at 7 p.m. inside Carnesecca Arena.