St. John’s secures 82-71 win over Brown

The St. John’s Red Storm rode high once again on Tuesday night.

The Johnnies secured their fifth victory in a row, defeating the Brown Bears 82-71. The victory comes on the heels of a big win over the previously undefeated West Virginia Mountaineers and means that they have still lost only one game in the state of New York this season.

St John’s led wire to wire in this one, starting things off with a 3-pointer from LJ Figueroa. The Johnnies’ first three buckets were from deep, as Figueroa, Julian Champagnie and Rasheem Dunn all converted from beyond the arc one by one. From there, the Red Storm built up a lead as large as 15 points in the first half, and then propped that up all the way to 18 points by the 1:25 mark. They carried a 17-point advantage into the first half, as they were firing on al cylinders. They shot 42.4 percent from the field, and while they were a dismal 4-of-14 from the 3-point line, they shot 9-for-10 on their free throw attempts.

The second half continued to play into their hand. While they were 2-for-8 from deep, they made 10 of their 18 2-point tries and 15 of their 16 free throw lines. They staved the Bears off, as they cut the lead all the way down to four points by the 7:55 mark. But they couldn’t get it to closer than six points after that, as the Red Storm muscled up and kept the lead in their favor and entered the win column once again as a result.

Figueroa led in points with 23 on the night, shooting seven-for-16 from the field. Mustapha Heron joined him in double figures with 21 points on seven made shots from the field, and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Dunn got into double figures as well, going for 12 points with a 5-for-6 effort from the stripe. Marcellus Earlington came closest to double figures with eight points, while Josh Roberts dropped six of his own.

This was an impressive showing from end to end for the Johnnies. They may have pushed the line of 11 points going into the game, but they avoided an emotional letdown after the big win over WVU over the weekend at Madison Square Garden. That kind of discipline, in many regards, is definitely a big takeaway from this performance. And it’s one that should instill plenty of confidence in this team and the fans going forward.

St. John’s will go for their sixth win in a row next Wednesday, when they welcome the Albany Great Danes to Carnesecca Arena.