The first act was great Friday as St. John's shot well early and took a 14-point halftime lead over LIU, dropping threes on the Blackbirds' heads from every corner of Carnesecca Arena. But the Red Storm saved its opening-night jitters for a shaky second half, shooting 16.7 percent from beyond the arc, and saw a 19-point lead slip to seven when Jaytornah Wisseh hit a couple of foul shots with 1:03 left.
It was a bit of a throwback to the bad old days, but after making only three of its first 12 foul shots, the Red Storm hit its final six to preserve an 83-70 victory.
St. John's coach Norm Roberts credited LIU's Wisseh, who led all scorers with 28 points, for "controlling the game," but it was a case of one very good player against the Red Storm's 10-man rotation.
"We had a hard time containing him," said Roberts, who had to move transfer Dwight Hardy to backup point guard after freshman Malik Stith suffered a foot injury Thursday. Hardy and starter Malik Booth had trouble stopping Wisseh's penetration.
But just as Roberts promised, the Red Storm maintained a fast pace and pressured out high on defense in the early going, rotating 10 players even with injured Anthony Mason Jr. in street clothes.
The Blackbirds are rated No. 2 in the Northeast Conference, but they looked outmanned in the first half. The second half was a different story as they went to a 2-3 zone that caused the Red Storm to rely too heavily on perimeter shooting.
Wisseh had 11 points in the Blackbirds' late 21-9 run to pull within 77-70, but there was too much ground to make up.
That was because St. John's finished with five players scoring in double figures, including D.J. Kennedy (16 points, seven rebounds), Hardy (14 points, four assists), Justin Burrell (12 points, eight rebounds), Justin Brownlee (12 points, seven rebounds) and Paris Horne (12 points).
Without question, St. John's should benefit from the depth added by transfers Hardy and Brownlee and freshman wing Omari Lawrence (seven points), who made several key plays.
Speaking of the 10-man rotation, veteran Horne said, "It's great because we can go all out and be fresh. We couldn't do that last year."