Moe Harkless, one of five freshmen starters for St. John's, had 23 points and 13 rebounds, and the Red Storm snapped a four-game losing streak with a 78-62 victory over West Virginia on Wednesday night.
It was believed to be the first time St. John's started five freshmen since the 1927-28 season with the team that went on to be known as ''The Wonder Five.'' Freshmen were not eligible for varsity competition from the early 1950s until 1972.
The Red Storm (9-11, 3-6 Big East) used runs of 8-0 and 9-0 to take a 36-20 halftime lead and they led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
They looked nothing like the team that entered the game last in the 16-team conference in field goal percentage (42.2), finishing at 48.4 percent (31 of 64). They even improved their last-place 3-point percentage (24.4), making 4 of 12.
West Virginia (15-6, 5-3), which had won three straight and five of six, struggled offensively all game. The Mountaineers came in fourth in the Big East with a 46.6 shooting percentage but they finished at 35.4 percent (23 of 65).
Kevin Jones, who leads the Big East in scoring (20.7) and rebounding (11.5), finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds, but it wasn't close to being enough.
Freshman D'Angelo Harrison, coming off a season-high 28 points against Villanova, had 19 points for the Red Storm, who had won just one of their first six games this season at Madison Square Garden.
Darryl ''Truck'' Bryant had 16 points for the Mountaineers but he was 0 for 6 from the field in the first half, including missing three 3-point attempts as West Virginia went 2 of 10 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
Any thoughts of a second-half rally for West Virginia dimmed quickly as the Red Storm opened the half on a 10-5 run that included 3s by Phil Green and Harkless. A drive by Sir'Dominic Pointer capped the spurt and made it 46-25.
West Virginia closed within 68-59 on a basket by Bryant with 2:46 to go, but that was as close as the Mountaineers would get.
This was the Red Storm's second straight win over West Virginia after losing 10 in a row in the series. The Mountaineers had won five straight at St. John's.
