D'Angelo Harrison scored 20 points and St. John's pulled away for a 79-68 victory over Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday.
Sir'Dominic Pointer contributed 15 points and JaKarr Sampson had 12 for the Red Storm (4-2), who bounced back from consecutive losses to Murray State and Baylor in the Charleston Classic. Pointer, a reserve, also had eight rebounds to help St. John's to a 33-31 edge on the glass.
Bernard Thompson led the Eagles (4-3) with 20 points, and Sherwood Brown finished with 15. Florida Gulf Coast committed 17 turnovers.
Chase Fieler made a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 45-44 lead with 15:21 left, but St. John's responded with an 11-2 run. Harrison started the spurt with a layup and Sampson's jumper made it 55-47 with 11:40 to go.
Harrison connected on a 3-pointer to make it 60-50 at the 7:52 mark, and the Red Storm maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Fieler finished with 11 points and seven boards for the Eagles, who are at Samford on Wednesday.
St. John's hosts South Carolina in the SEC/Big East Challenge on Thursday.
