Chris Mullin’s First Victory as St. John’s Basketball Coach in Exhibition Game Against Sonoma State

Saturday, at Carnesecca Arena, in St. John’s second exhibition game against Sonoma State, Chris Mullin and the Men’s Basketball team got their first win of the year in a 64-46 victory. Yankuba Sima and Christian Jones had double-doubles, helping the Johnnies massively with their first win. Sima had a game-high 16 points and 16 rebounds, while cutting eight of St. John’s 11 blocks. Jones, with his second-straight double-double, had 13 points and 11 rebounds. They both harbored the Red Storm’s 85.3 percent (29-of-34) free-throw shooting performance as Sima transformed all six attempts and Jones went 7-for-9.

Elijah Holifield and Durand Johnson both added seven points to the score and Holifield shot 3-for-4. Ron Mvouika and Darien Williams put up six points each. James Davis and Brandon Tillis from Sonoma State had nine points each and the Seawolves had a team-high seven rebounds to go with seven points from Andy Mitchell. St. John’s used a 16-2 run to have a 36-22 advantage into the break. Williams put up all six of his points during the run.

Sonoma State cut St. John’s lead to 10 with four-straight points to open the second half. Johnson fought back with a 3-pointer and Jones threw in a layup-and-one which brought the Red Storm lead back up to 16, 42-26. A lead by St. John’s was maintained the rest of the way and they did not allow the Seawolves to get closer than seven.

Federico Mussini contributed a pair of free throws and Johnson turned a layup to open an 11-point lead with only four minutes to go. The Red Storm finished the game with an 18-point lead.

St. John’s opens the 2015-2016 regular season at Carnesecca Arena on November 13 at 6 p.m. with a game against Wagner.