St. John’s 64, Charleston 53: D’Angelo Harrison finished with a game-high 21 points as the Red Storm pulled away from the host Cougars in the first round of the Charleston (S.C.) Classic.

Amir Garrett chipped in with 11 points and Phil Greene scored all of his 10 points in the second half for the Red Storm (2-0), who finished with only six turnovers – two in the first half. St. John’s will play Murray State in Friday's semifinals.

Nori Johnson had 11 points and Trent Wiedeman added 10 for Charleston (1-1), which could not deal with the Red Storm’s athleticism and turned the ball over 14 times.

Garrett’s 3-pointer capped an 11-0 run that turned a tie game into a 22-11 lead for the Red Storm in the first half. Garrett and Harrison each had nine points in the opening 20 minutes as St. John’s led by as many as 14 points before settling for a 36-26 halftime lead.

The Red Storm led by as many as 20 points in the second half. The Cougars pulled within 54-44 with 5:21 to go on a basket by Andrew Lawrence, but Harrison responded with a basket and Sir’Dominic Pointer followed with a dunk as St. John’s sealed it.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Freshman JaKarr Sampson rebounded from a rough two-point debut against Detroit with eight points and 10 rebounds for St. John’s. … Felix Balamou, a freshman guard who expected to be redshirted this season, played for St. John’s but did not score. … Anthony Thomas had seven points and 11 rebounds for Charleston.