St. John's Downs Men's Basketball in Dreyfus Holiday Festival

Daryll Hill netted 23 points, and Lamont Hamilton added 21 as St. John's (5-4) outscored Canisius (1-7) 34-21 in the second half of a 71-51 Red Storm victory in the Dreyfus Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden Tuesday afternoon. The loss was the sixth in a row for the Griffs.

Chuck Harris, Dewitt Doss and Jon Popofski each scored 10 points to lead Canisius.

Trailing 37-30 at halftime, Canisius went cold in the second frame. The Blue and Gold managed to score just eight points in the first 13:57 of the stanza and made just two field goals during the stretch. Canisius finished the half 6-for-26 from the field and shot 34.8 percent for the game.

"It's a special opportunity to be able to play in the Garden at a prestigious tournament, and for our guys to play so poorly was very disappointing," said Canisius coach Mike MacDonald.

The Griffs led by as many as seven points on two occasions in the first half as Canisius shot 50 percent from the floor and went 4-for-8 from three-point range.

Trailing 23-16, St. John's put together a 21-7 run over the last eight minutes of the frame to take a 37-30 cushion into the break.

"We had things going along the way we wanted in the first half," said MacDonald. "Then they went into a zone defense, and we became hesitant and went back on our heels."

The Golden Griffins meet Columbia in the consolation game Thursday at 6:30 p.m. That contest will be broadcast live on MSG.

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Players Mentioned

#11 Dewitt Doss: G; 5' 10"; Redshirt

#14 Chuck Harris: G; 6' 3"; Sophomore

#23 Jon Popofski: G; 6' 2"; Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

#11 Dewitt Doss
: 5' 10"; Redshirt
: G

#14 Chuck Harris
: 6' 3"; Sophomore
: G

#23 Jon Popofski
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Junior
: G

Players Mentioned

#11 Dewitt Doss

#14 Chuck Harris

#23 Jon Popofski

Players Mentioned

#11 Dewitt Doss

#14 Chuck Harris

#23 Jon Popofski