Spokesman-Review
National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
St. John's 72, South Florida 56
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 5, 2011
Where: Carnesecca Arena, Queens, New York
Officials: # Ray Perrone, # Michael Stephens, # Gene Steratore
Attendance: 5602

D.J. Kennedy scored 16 points and No. 15 St. John’s pulled away late to beat visiting South Florida 72-56 on Saturday.

Dwight Hardy scored 14 points, Justin Brownlee had 13 and Paris Horne added 11 for St. John’s (20-10, 12-6 Big East), which trailed 35-30 at halftime.

South Florida led 50-44 with 9:35 remaining before St. John’s ended its upset hopes with a 21-7 run. Sean Evans’ dunk with 3:22 to play put the Red Storm up 64-52. Evans finished with nine points and nine rebounds.

Augustus Gilchrist scored 16 points and Shaun Noriega added 14 for South Florida (9-22, 3-15), which has lost eight of its last nine. Ron Anderson added 13 points and a team-high six rebounds.

St. John’s, which had its six-game winning streak snapped on Thursday with an 84-70 loss at Seton Hall, finishes the regular season in a fourth-place tie in the Big East, its highest league finish since 2002 (third).

St. John’s received the No. 5 seed in next week's Big East Tournament, with the Red Storm set to play Wednesday in the second round against the Seton Hall-Rutgers winner.

South Florida has lost 13 in a row to ranked opponents.
Top Game Performances
 
South Florida   St. John's
Augustus Gilchrist 16 Scoring D.J. Kennedy 16
Shaun Noriega 3 Assists Malik Boothe 5
Ron Anderson 6 Rebounds Sean Evans 9
Augustus Gilchrist 6 Free Throws Made D.J. Kennedy 8
Ron Anderson 3 Steals Sean Evans 3
Ron Anderson 2 Blocks D.J. Kennedy 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
South Florida 56 41.3 3-13 15-19 10 23 3 6
St. John's 72 42.1 6-21 18-25 9 32 4 8