Nov. 25, 2007

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

QUEENS, N.Y. - With so much excitement surrounding the Red Storm men's basketball squad's talented seven-man freshman class, it's sometimes easy to forget about St. John's "old man." But senior captain Eugene Lawrence reminded the Red Storm faithful how important veteran leadership is on Sunday, contributing a 20-point, nine-assist near-double-double and orchestrating a second half surge to finish off Fairleigh Dickinson, 92-67.

Lawrence's poise and playmaking ability created opportunities for the Red Storm's emerging young stars, including Larry Wright (18 points), Justin Burrell (15 points, 14 rebounds), D.J. Kennedy (18 points), Malik Boothe (8 points, 6 assists) and Paris Horne (8 points). Wright drilled six 3-pointers, coming within two shots of the single-game school record, and helping St. John's to a 34-of-62 (.548) mark from the floor and an 11-of-21 (.524) effort from long range.

Lawrence now totals 22 assists and only three turnovers on the season, and he entered the game as the BIG EAST's leader in assists-to-turnover ratio. Burrell's performance marked his second-straight and second-career double-double, while Wright increased his team-leading scoring average to 17.7 points per game and is currently firing at a 56.3 percent clip from the floor and a 58.8 rate from 3-point range.

"Our guys did a great job of coming out in the second half, and really locking in defensively and understanding that in order to win the game you have to guard," said head coach Norm Roberts. "We did a better job of that, and a much better job of rebounding. I thought we got the ball inside when we needed to and a lot of guys stepped up and made plays."

The Red Storm opened the game on a 13-3 run, but the gap was quickly closed thanks to the Knights' hot hands on the perimeter. Eric Hazard, Manny Ubilla, Bernell Murray and Sean Baptiste combined for 39 points and hit eight 3-pointers in the first half, keying FDU to a 59.3 percent mark from the field (16-of-27) and a 61.5 percent performance from long range (8-of-13) in the opening period. Lawrence nailed a long trey at the halftime buzzer as a part of his 12-point first half effort, and helped the STJ to close within three points, 45-42, at intermission.

After trading baskets in the first few minutes of the second half, St. John's used a 17-4 run to take control of the contest and led, 62-53, with 12:47 to play in the half. Burrell powered the Red Storm with six points and five boards during the run, and also took a charge on a FDU fast break, while Wright drilled a 3-pointer and Lawrence fed Horne with one astounding behind-the-back assist for a transition dunk, and then fired a pass to a streaking Horne for a back-door score. Another Knights flurry brought them to within five, 63-58 at the 11:09 mark, but the Red Storm cruised down the stretch, thanks to the Lawrence, Wright and Burrell-led offense.

The Red Storm played once again without returning scoring and rebounding leader Anthony Mason Jr., who missed his third-straight game recovering from a high ankle sprain.

St. John's plays host to local squad LIU on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., wrapping up its season-opening four-game homestand at Carnesecca Arena. The game will air on Bloomberg Radio 1130-AM, and RedStormSports.com's StormTracker All-Access will provide live streaming video and audio.