Ponds scores 26, St. John's burns Creighton 83-67

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Shamorie Ponds scored 26 points and St. John's had its best shooting game of the season while forcing Creighton into its worst shooting game, rolling to an 83-67 win on Wednesday night.

Mustapha Heron added 17 points and LJ Figueroa 15 for the Red Storm (16-5, 4-5 Big East Conference), who snapped a two-game skid. Ponds also had eight rebounds, eight assists and six steals.

Despite missing its last four shots, St. John's shot 65 percent (15 of 23) in the second half to finish the game at 57.9 (33 of 57). Its previous best was 57.4 percent.

Ty-Shon Alexander led the Bluejays (12-9, 3-5), who had won two straight, with 15 points. Martin Krampelj added 14 points and Marcus Zegarowski 13.

The Bluejays finished at 41.7 percent (25 of 60) after coming in shooting 50.5. Their previous worst shooting was 43.3 percent. The second-best 3-point shooting team in team in the country at 42.6 finished at 26.5 (9 of 34) after a 3 of 15 second half.

The game was tied at 29 with 2:45 to go in the first half when St. John's hit five-straight 3-pointers, three by Ponds, to take a 44-34 lead. From that point on, the Red Storm shot 71.4 from the field, including 59 percent from 3-point range.

As soon has Creighton got within eight early in the second half, Ponds and Figueroa reeled off nine straight points and the lead stayed in double figures. The Red Storm had a string of eight straight makes in the second half.