St. John's basketball struggles against Wagner before late second half push

Nothing from inside Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday night is going to be placed inside the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame but it did add up as a win for the St. John's basketball team.

The Johnnies could not find its offensive footing for the first 30 minutes against Wagner before things finally clicked in the final 10 minutes that resulted in a 66-45 victory.

Seahawks (1-2) guard Javier Ezquerra made it a 2-point game, 39-37, following a deep 3-pointer with 10:54 remaining but the Red Storm were nearly perfect after it, closing the game on a 27-8 run.

It was started by a 3-pointer from Deivon Smith, then a fast break layup from RJ Luis, then back-to-back triples from Brady Dunlap and Zuby Ejiofor. It was the makings of an 18-0 run and all St. John's (3-0) needed.

"Players will get tight in this type of game because you're supposed to win and everybody's expecting it and what happens is [the game is within] three points and you panic. Instead, they turned up the heat, made shots, and were very poised when it counted," Rick Pitino said after the victory.

The Red Storm held Wagner to 29.1-percent shooting from the field (16-of-55) and 20.8-percent from 3-point range (5-of-24). It was the free throw line that hurt the Johnnies' chances to create separation, making only 18-of-30 attempts and shooting 13-of-22 in the first half.

Luis led the way with 13 points but the disjointed Red Storm attack was balanced. Aaron Scott was the only other player in double figures with 11 points and no one took more than eight shots with six players scoring at least eight points.

There was a significant development pregame when Pitino opted to remove Kadary Richmond, Ejiofor, and Luis from the starting lineup. Vince Iwuchukwu, Dunlap, and Scott played in place of the trio.

However, Richmond and Ejiofor started the second half and each logged 28 minutes.

No. 22 St. John's will graduate into much tougher competition beginning on Sunday (12:00 p.m. ET, FS1) as Richard Pitino's New Mexico Lobos come to Madison Square Garden before the Johnnies head to the Bahamas for three games against No. 12 Baylor, No. 11 Tennessee or Virginia, and Georgia.