Field Level Media
Nov 30, 2019
Mustapha Heron scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half, leading the St. John's Red Storm past the Wagner Seahawks 86-63 on Saturday afternoon at Queens, N.Y.
St. John's (6-2) won its second straight game and also improved to 19-2 in its all-time series against its fellow New York school, Wagner (2-5).
Heron, a 6-5 senior shooting guard who transferred from Auburn prior to last season, made 7-of-11 shots from the floor, including 3-of-6 on three-pointers.
St. John's, which never trailed, also got 14 points off the bench from 6-2 redshirt junior guard Rasheem Dunn, a transfer from Cleveland State.
Red Storm forward Josh Roberts, perhaps the most improved player on the team, had 12 points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Julian Champagnie added 12 points and a game-high four steals for the Red Storm.
LJ Figueroa, St. John's 6-6 junior point guard, had a team-high six assists. He missed his first seven shots and finished with six points.
Elijah Ford and Nigel Jackson led Wagner with 12 points each. Ford added a game-high 10 rebounds and four assists.
The Seahawks were without 6-4 senior guard and leading scorer Curtis Cobb III, a graduate transfer from Massachusetts who is averaging 21.6 points, because of a wrist injury. In his most recent game, on Nov. 20 at Saint Peter's, Cobb had 25 points, including 10 in a victorious overtime.
On Saturday, the Red Storm used a 13-0 run midway through the first half to help them take a 43-19 lead at intermission.
By just about any metric, it was St. John's best defensive half of the season as Wagner was held to 26.1 percent shooting from the floor, including 1-of-7 on 3-pointers. St. John's also forced 13 turnovers.
The second half was never close as St. John's finished with a season-high 23 assists, shooting 49.3 percent from the floor, including 9-of-26 on 3-pointers.
Wagner shot 33.9 percent, including 6-of-25 on three-pointers (24.0 percent).
--Field Level Media