St. John’s hits 8-0 mark with 85-71 win over Mount St. Mary’s

It was a win 28 years in the making.

For the first time since the 1990-91 season, the St. John’s Red Storm are off to an 8-0 start. The Johnnies picked up their eighth win of the season on Wednesday against the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, 85-71, and continue to forge a path to remaining unbeaten going into Big East play.

The Johnnies got to 8-0 off the backs of their starters, with Marvin Clark II leading the way in points with 21. Clark was super-efficient at 8-for-11 from the field, and had it not been for the performance of Dee Barnes, he may have been the player of the night. We’ll get to him later. Mustapha Heron was second in points with 17 and went 6-for-12 from the field. Justin Simon put up 14 on 6-for-9, LJ Figueroa had 13 on 5-for-8 and Shamorie Ponds had 11 on 3-for-7.

The 21 points from Clark II the most he’s scored this season and the first time he’s gotten into the 20s since he put up an even 20 against the Butler Bulldogs last February. It’s the fourth time he’s hit the 20-point threshold since he got to St. John’s, with his 24 against the DePaul Blue Demons last Valentine’s Day being the clubhouse leader.

The Johnnies were simply dominant in this game. Although the lead changed nine times, the Red Storm led for 30:46 of the 40 minutes played. They only held a five-point edge at the half but still won by 14 after holding The Mount to just 12 points in the final 10 minutes. By comparison, St. John’s finished the game by making eight of their last 10 shots from the field and their final three in a row.

So, back to Dee Barnes. Let’s talk about Dee Barnes. The freshman from Great Mills, Maryland put himself on the map and then some. Coming into the night, he was only averaging 6.3 points per game. But Barnes showed out and then some, dropping 26 points on the Johnnies. Not only that, he had seven — count ‘em, SEVEN — 3-pointers (!). As you can imagine this was his most prodigious effort so far and one that might earn him more PT along the way. Shout out to him, and a tip of the cap to him, as well.

St. John’s has four games left, all of which are home games. They’ll play the Princeton Tigers next on Sunday, and it’s their first game of the year at Madison Square Garden.