Ian Jackson scored 14 of his 17 points before halftime as No. 13 St. John’s took control late in the first half and pulled away for a 90-59 victory over Colgate on Wednesday in New York.
The Red Storm (3-0) earned their third straight double-digit victory ahead of a Sunday home game against Syracuse at Madison Square Garden.
Keyshawn Hall also put up 17 points, on 5-of-9 shooting, in his third straight double-figure performance since joining the Red Storm as a transfer from Auburn.
Tounde Yessoufou added 15 points and three steals after getting 23 points against Iona. Lefteris Liotopoulos contributed 13 for the Red Storm, who led for the final 33 minutes.
St. John’s got 11 points and eight rebounds from Ruben Prey, while Quinn Ellis handed out nine assists.
The Red Storm shot 48.4% and made 12 of 30 from 3-point tries (40%).
Jackson scored 11 points in the final 3:44 of the first half when the Red Storm turned a seven-point lead into a 17-point advantage. He finished 6-for-10 overall and sank three 3-pointers in 20 minutes.
Andrew Alekseyenko led Colgate (0-3) with 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and he pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. The Raiders shot 37.7%, made 7-of-27 3-point tries (25.9%) and allowed 27 points off 19 turnovers.
Colgate tied the game four times before St. John’s scored seven straight points and took a 21-14 lead on a reverse layup by Babacar Sane with 12:02 left in the first half.
The Red Storm took their first double-digit lead when Hall sank a trey from the top of the key with 9:35 left before the break, and they held a 34-19 lead following a reverse layup by Liotopoulos a little over two minutes later.
Colgate roared back with a 13-4 spurt, and Blake Forrest’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 38-32 with 3:34 left. Jackson capped an 11-0 run when Ellis found him for a buzzer-beating layup to give the Red Storm a 49-32 lead entering halftime.
Jackson and Yessoufou sank corner 3-pointers early in the second as the Red Storm scored 10 straight for a 61-36 lead with 16:11 left.