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Saturday, Nov. 25 2:00pm ET
Niagara 59, St Johns (24) 92 | |||||
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BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (AP) _ For St. John's, Saturday's game against Niagara was a mousetrap, a place the Red Storm could have been caught not paying attention. Their three prized freshmen didn't let that happen. First-year starters Omar Cook, Willie Shaw and Kyle Cuffe scored 16 points apiece in a 92-59 victory over the Purple Eagles. "It's easy to get pumped up to play teams like Kentucky and Kansas," Cuffe said. "But it's games like this where you have to be self-motivated." "These are tough games because you're supposed to win," coach Mike Jarvis said. "We played sloppy in the first half but came back with a solid second half. "One of the greatest chllenges in coaching is getting the players to perform night-in, night-out. You can't take a day off. You try to get them to want what I want _ to improve from week to week." Anthony Glover had 13 points and Alpha Bangura 12 for the No. 23 Red Storm (3-1), who shot 61 percent (37-for-61) from the floor. Damond Stewart's 20 points led Niagara (2-1), who converted only nine of 36 3-point field goal attempts. Daryl Greene added 19. The Purple Eagles made just 18 of 72 shots. "I was very disappointed in our shooting," coach Joe Mihalic said. "There was too much wild shooting. We're not as bad as we looked." Cuffe and Shaw each had a pair of baskets in a 13-0 St. John's surge over the first 4:09 of the game. Niagara got as close as 15-7 on Green's two foul shots at 12:55. Then Sharif Fordham's jumper closed out a 7-0 spurt that put St. John's on top, 22-7. A layup and two foul shots by Stewart highlighted a 7-0 run by the Purple Eagles that cut the deficit to 22-12 at 10:14. Then Green hit a layup and a pair of 3-point baskets as Niagara closed to 34-28 with 2:40 left in the half. Cook scored five points and Shaw four as the Red Storm closed the half on a 9-0 run to lead 43-28. Glover's eight points in the first five minutes of the second half enabled St. John's to build the advantage to 58-38 and turn the game into a rout. It was the 24th consecutive victory at Alumni Hall for St. John's. | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Reggie Jessie throws the behind-the-back pass to Alpha Bangura who finishes with the layup.avi: 1679 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Omar Cook thorws up a funky oop to Alpha Bangura aganist Niagara.avi: 1156 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Sharif Fordham knifes through two Niagara defenders for the layup.avi: 1112 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Omar Cook darts up the floor for the layup against Niagara.avi: 1279 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||