St. John’s Blow Past Maryland-Eastern Shore, 85-64

St. John’s returned to Carnesecca Arena Tuesday following their heroics in the Barclays Center last week. Waiting for them on the court tonight were the Hawks of Maryland-Eastern Shore in what ended up being a rather easy game for Red Storm. St. John’s won tonight by a score of 85 to 64.

Coming into this game, Maryland-Eastern Shore were 1-5 on the season with their only win coming against D2 Central Pennsylvania.

Tuesday would be no different, as St. John’s went to work and put this game well beyond the range for UMES to come back into it. By halftime, the scoreline was 52-28 in favor of the Red Storm. It was also the kind of game where the you do a deep dive into the bench. Not just giving guys in the rotation more minutes but also the bench guys who most likely won’t get into many or any games this season a little bit of time on the court. Such as Josh Roberts and Greg Williams Jr., both of whom saw a significant amount of time. Essentially it is the kind of game to comb through the roster.

Still, there were some interesting points of action on the court for the Red Storm. LJ Figueroa once again had himself a night as he is growing evermore into a presence on the floor for the Johnnies. He posted a double-double game of 25 point game on 10-17 shooting and 13 rebounds, a great follow up from his play last week at the Barclays Center.

Mustapha Heron also had a great game rebounded after a rather dour performance against Virginia Commonwealth last week. Heron got back to his high scoring ways with a 20 point game and some great ball movement, working in transition which St. John’s did a fair amount of tonight. Rounding out the scoring was Mikey Dixon who had another solid night of 14 points on 5-8 shooting. He is slowly becoming one to watch off the bench for the Red Storm and another of the transfers who has gelled nicely into the team.

As for the hero of last week, Shamorie Ponds had a quiet game of only four points but was key in moving the ball around posting a game-leading six assists. In a way it was nice to see St. John’s not overly rely on Ponds for their scoring this time around

For the Hawks, Ryan Andino and Tyler Jones made up the bulk of their offensive production, with the two scoring a combined 42 out of the 64 points that UMES scored. Separately, Andino posted a 24 point game on 8-17 shooting with all points scored from beyond the arc and Jones posting an 18 point game on 8-14 shooting.

With this game done and dusted, St. John’s moves to 6-0 on the season and turn their attention to the weekend where they will be playing Georgia Tech in Miami.