Dunlap, Luis deliver second-half spark in St. John’s blowout win over Quinnipiac

After trailing by four at halftime, the Red Storm cranked up the intensity and ran away with this game thanks to 20-point performances by Brady Dunlap and R.J. Luis

St. John’s flirted with danger through the first half of Saturday’s game. Quinnipiac led by four at the halftime break, 39-35, pacing the game thanks to a three-point barrage by Ryan Mabrey (15 points on five triples), an out-of-sync Red Storm offense, and a series of frustrating defensive breakdowns that may have elicited one of Pitino’s more fiery halftime speeches.

The second half was, fortunately, a much different picture for the Red Storm. St. John’s ran up 61 second-half points to not only take the lead and avoid another buy game loss for a Big East opponent but turn this game into the laugher it was meant to be, with the Red Storm winning 96-73.

Simeon Wilcher took charge out of the halftime break, leading a 13-4 run to begin the second half. The sophomore guard scored half of his 14 points during this stretch, which included an utterly disrespectful posterizing dunk over Bobcats big man Paul Otieno that put the Red Storm ahead for good.

While Kadary Richmond was held to three points and Aaron Scott battled through illness in very limited minutes, Brady Dunlap and R.J. Luis were the difference in the second half by tallying 30 of those 61 Red Storm second-half points.

Dunlap set a new career-high with 20 points, making five threes on seven attempts. Luis bounced back with a 24-point, 13-rebound double-double after fouling out and taking a technical foul on opening night.

Deivon Smith also impressed in his first start of the season, recording his own double-double with 13 points and ten assists.

Despite the shaky first-half defensive performance, the Red Storm tallied a whopping 10 blocks and nine steals on Saturday. Zuby Ejiofor is still trying to find his offensive rhythm with an eight-point performance, but he was a post menace with five blocks.

As the Red Storm improve to 2-0, they return to action on Wednesday night when they face the Wagner Seahawks (6:30 p.m., FS2).