No. 17 St. John's mauls Tulane for most lopsided win of season

Sir'Dominic Pointer used a complete game to keep St. John's rolling.

"He's unique. (In) so many different ways he helps us," St. John's coach Steve Lavin said after Pointer had a career-high 24 points to lead No. 17 St. John's to an 82-57 rout of Tulane in the first game of the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival Tripleheader on Sunday.

Pointer also added a career-high seven steals, grabbed four rebounds, had four assists and blocked two shots. The 25-point margin of victory was the largest for St. John's this season.

"(Pointer is) A microcosm of our team," Lavin said. "When we get stops. Dom is so often the player who spearheads our defensive efforts. He unnerves opponents."

D'Angelo Harrison scored 21 points and became St. John's fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,829 points. Rysheed Jordan added 12 points in 22 minutes in his first game action since missing the 66-49 win over Long Beach State on Dec. 22 with the flu.

Pointer, Harrison and Jordan had 57 of St. John's 82 points.

"It's hard to guard all of us," Harrison said. "When everyone's going we're hard to beat."

With its seventh win in a row, St. John's improved to 11-1 this season. The Red Storm are 11-1 for the first time since the 1985-86 season. That team finished 31-5, but was blown out by Auburn in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

"(It) feels great," Harrison said. "It's time for us to get ready for the Big East."

The Green Wave fell to 9-3 with their second loss in a row. Jonathan Stark had 15 points for Tulane. Louis Dabney added 12.

St. John's used a 39-13 run spanning the final 15:34 to go into the half with a 47-22 advantage.

The key to the offensive run was St. John's transition game. The Red Storm turned 11 first-half turnovers into 14 points. For the game, St. John's forced 17 turnovers.

Tulane's turnovers were costly. And the Green Wave also shot 37.9 percent from the field, and missed 19 of 25 from 3-point range.

"Credit St. John's. They came out with a lot of energy. Our execution on the offensive end (wasn't what it needed to be)," Tulane coach Ed Conroy said. "I was surprised at the way we played.

"We didn't handle it well."

The Red Storm made 31 of 61 from the field, and 14 of 19 from the line.

St. John's lead grew to 27 points late in the second half before Keith Pickney's layup with two seconds left.

St. John's is 1-2 in three meetings with Tulane. All three games have been at neutral site venues.

TIP-INS

St. John's: Joey De La Rosa's made a free throw with 6:56 remaining in the first half was the senior center's first point as a member of the Red Storm. De La Rosa finished with three points.

Tulane: Sunday afternoon's game was the Green Wave's third in as many years at Barclays Center.

QUOTABLE

"We don't want to lose another game. That's our mindset." -- D'Angelo Harrison on St. John's thought process heading into Big East Conference play.