Fordham Rams vs St. John's Red Storm Match Player Stats On Dec 16, 2023

Joel Soriano collected 20 points and 10 rebounds against his former school as St. John's never trailed and pulled away for a 77-55 victory over Fordham on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Against the school he played 44 games for, Soriano shot 9-for-15 and notched his fifth 20-point game this season. The center also finished with his sixth double-double and 32nd since the start of last season. He added three blocks.

Soriano's performance helped St. John's (7-3) win for the fifth time in six games and bounce back from allowing Boston College to shoot 56 percent in Sunday's 86-80 loss.

Chris Ledlum added 11 points and was the only other double-figure scorer for the Red Storm, who shot 43.5 percent and survived missing 12 of 18 3-point tries and eight free throws.

Josh Rivera scored 15 points but shot 3-of-13 as the Rams (5-6) shot a ghastly 25.4 percent and missed 16 of 18 3-point attempts. Abdou Tsimbila added 12 as Fordham lost for the third time in four games and was held under 60 points for the second time.

Fordham's other three starters -- Japhet Medor, Kyle Rose and Antrell Charlton -- combined for 15 points on 2-for-21 from the field.

The Red Storm scored the first eight points and took an 18-8 lead on Nahiem Alleyne's jumper with 11:58 remaining. Nearly five minutes later, Alleyne hit a layup for a 30-12 lead, but Fordham was within 39-28 by halftime after outscoring St. John's 16-9.

Fordham sliced the deficit to 41-33 on Rose's jumper 63 seconds into the second half but St. John's opened a 53-35 lead on a putback by Sean Conway five minutes later.

The Rams trailed 53-41 on Tsimbila's hook shot with 9:45 to go but Soriano scored eight points in the Red Storm's 16-5 spurt that pushed the margin to 69-46 with 4:41 left to essentially finish it off.

--Field Level Media