LJ Figueroa tied a career high with 25 points as St. John's heated up in the second half to beat New Hampshire 74-61 on Monday night in New York.
Figueroa, a junior wing, also had eight rebounds, five steals and three assists for the Red Storm, making up for an off night for leading scorer Mustapha Heron.
St. John's (3-0) used a 13-2 run to end the first half up 36-34, with sophomore forward Marcellus Earlington's put-back with 1.7 seconds left giving the Red Storm its first lead since the opening three minutes.
New Hampshire (2-1) didn't score over the final 2:44 of the first half, a drought that lasted almost a minute into the second half before sophomore forward Nick Guadarrama had layups on back-to-back possessions for a 38-36 lead.
Heron, a senior guard who averaged 27.5 points in the Red Storm's first two games, missed all five first-half shots and didn't get into the scoring column until recording a three-point play with 18:01 left. He finished with five points (on 2-of-12 shooting) with five assists.
Heron's first basket triggered a 15-3 St. John's run for a 53-43 lead after redshirt sophomore wing David Caraher drained a trey with 12:01 left.
The Wildcats, who made seven of their first 10 3-point tries, missed their next 10 from deep and finished 8 of 24. They went more than five minutes without a field goal at one point, but Guadarrama's 3-pointer with 6:39 left got them within 57-54.
St. John's responded with a 12-0 run for a 69-54 edge with 4:36 remaining. The last five points came from freshman forward Julian Champagnie, who finished with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and added nine rebounds.
New Hampshire got 14 points from senior guard Mark Carbone and 12 apiece from senior forward Chris Lester and junior guard Sean Sutherlin.
--Field Level Media
