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St. John's Uses Dominant Second Half to Defeat William & Mary 74-59

The St. John's Red Storm kicked things off this season in Big East basketball in front of their home crowd at Carnesecca Arena. They got a 74-59 win over the William & Mary Tribe on Nov. 7 in the Coaches vs. Cancer/2k Sports Classic.

William & Mary led St. John's at half 33-26. The Tribe hit 7 of 21 from behind the arc while Red Storm were having problems getting any shot to fall. One thing from the first half that gave us reason to think that St. John's was going to make a run in the second half was turnovers. William & Mary had nine turnovers in the first half that helped the Red Storm keep the score close.

The second half was a completely different story. The Tribe were completely taken out of their offense and were forced into 21 turnovers by the end of the game. Despite having only seven players, the pressure of St. John's never relented and got them layups and dunks off of turnovers. The Red Storm shot 67.9% from the field in the second half. St. John's got 28 points off turnovers for the game and outscored William & Mary 48-26 in the second half to cruise to an easy victory.

Four out of five St. John's starters reached double figures in scoring. Nurideen Lindsey led the team in scoring with 19 points (17 in the second half). Maurice Harkless and God`sgift Achiuwa both scored 17 points. William & Mary saw Quinn McDowell and Julian Boatner score 32 of their 59 points.

Two things of concern for St. John's going forward is rebounding and free throws. William & Mary outrebounded the Red Storm 35-29. St. John's got 25 free throw attempts but only hit 12. St. John's is lacking in size but can still create in the paint because of their athleticism, but they'll need to hit their free throws against tougher opponents.