Posh Alexander scored 19 points and Aaron Wheeler added 17 to lead a balanced St. John's offense as the Red Storm built a 21-point first-half lead Monday and coasted past Seton Hall 84-63 in South Orange, N.J.

St. John's (11-7, 3-4 Big East) earned a split of the teams' unusual home-and-home series of two games in three days.

The schedule jam-up was necessitated by a COVID-related postponement of this game, originally scheduled to be played in Newark, N.J., on Dec. 20. That arena was unavailable Monday, so the contest was held at Seton Hall's small on-campus gym.

The Red Storm limited the Pirates (12-6, 3-5) to 30.6 percent shooting from the field, and Seton Hall senior Jared Rhoden hit only 4 of 17 field-goal attempts en route to 12 points.

St. John's won despite star Julian Champagnie scoring only five points on 2-of-10 shooting. He had five assists, as did Alexander. Montez Mathis added 10 points for the Red Storm, and Champagnie and Joel Soriano each had four blocked shots.

Myles Cale scored 16 points, Jamir Harris had 12 and Tray Jackson scored 11 for the Pirates.

Harris' three-point play cut Seton Hall's deficit to 55-47 with 13:10 left in the game, but a 3-pointer and a dunk by Mathis began an 8-0 run that restored the Red Storm's lead to 16. The hosts never challenged after that.

St. John's wasn't intimidated by the crowd or the tiny venue. The Red Storm scored the first eight points in a 66-60 loss on Saturday, and they managed to score the first five points on Monday.

St. John's press sped up the Pirates and made them spend too much time getting their halfcourt offense set up. The absence of their top ballhandler, Bryce Aiken, was a problem. He missed his second straight game with a concussion. The Pirates committed 20 turnovers on Monday.

The Red Storm had two offensive boards on a possession that ended with a basket by Alexander for a 20-12 lead with 12:51 left. Seldom-used 3-point specialist Tareq Coburn, who finished with nine points, twice connected from beyond the arc to give the visitors a 26-15 lead. Aaron Wheeler back-rimmed a 3-point attempt that found the bottom of the net for a 32-18 advantage with 8:46 left in the half.

However, a 10-0 Seton Hall run capped by a long 3-pointer by Harris cut the deficit to 42-31 with 2:56 left, and the visitors led 46-36 at halftime.

--Field Level Media