Virginia 68, St. John's 50: Freshman Justin Anderson scored a career-high 18 points as the host Cavaliers beat the Red Storm in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament.

Anderson went 9-for-10 at the foul line and Akil Mitchell added 11 points and nine rebounds for Virginia (23-11), which advances to play Iowa in the Region 4 final. Taylor Barnette pitched in 13 points while Mike Tobey had 10.

Phil Greene IV led St. John’s (17-16) with 18 points despite shooting 1-of-6 from 3-point range. JaKarr Sampson tallied 14 points and seven rebounds for the Red Storm, which shot 2-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Barnette scored eight straight points — including back-to-back 3-pointers — in a 10-0 spurt as the Cavaliers opened up a 24-11 lead with 5:49 left in the first half. Amir Garrett answered with a deep ball and a tip-in as the Red Storm pulled within 24-18 before three Anderson free throws helped push the cushion to 32-21 at the break.

St. John’s cut the deficit to 40-33 on a Greene jumper with 12:33 to go, but Anderson hit a 3 moments later before a 9-0 Virginia spurt made it 54-37 with 7:01 left. A Greene three-point play capped a 9-0 response from the Red Storm, which pulled within 54-46 with 4:27 left, but that was as close as they would get.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Anderson (6.8 ppg) also led Virginia with 15 points in the Cavaliers’ first-round win over Norfolk State. His previous career high was 17 points, coming in an 80-69 win over Maryland on Feb. 10. … Virginia improved to 12-0 when holding opponents to fewer than 52 points. … The Cavaliers shot 57.9 percent in the first half.