Vince Cole scored 18 points as visiting St. John's led most of the way and pulled away in the final minutes for an 81-68 victory over DePaul Wednesday night in Chicago.

The Red Storm (10-7, 4-6 Big East) returned to league play after Saturday's 96-78 win over Utah Valley and allowed less than 75 points for the fifth straight game since allowing 97 at Creighton on Jan. 9.

Cole posted his second straight productive game after being held to single digits in his previous five games before the Utah Valley win. He shot 7 of 16 from the field and capped an 8-0 surge with a 3-pointer that gave the Red Storm a 74-59 lead with 3:42 remaining to essentially clinch the win.

Julian Champagnie, the Big East's leading scorer, added 16 as the Red Storm won their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Posh Alexander and Isaih Moore contributed 15 and three steals apiece as St. John's shot 46.2 percent and scored 30 points off 18 turnovers.

DePaul (3-6, 1-6) was unable to follow up an impressive win at Marquette on Saturday and trailed for the final 34-plus minutes.

Charlie Moore led the Blue Demons with 21 points. Pauly Paulicap added a season-high 16 points and career-high 16 rebounds, while Javon Freeman-Liberty contributed 16 as DePaul shot 38.6 percent and committed at least 15 turnovers for the seventh time this season.

After a sluggish start, St. John's used a 10-1 run to get a 21-14 lead on a 3-pointer by Cole with 14:12 remaining and then took their first 10-point lead at 26-16 about three minutes later on a basket by Dylan Addae-Wusu. A 3-pointer by Champagnie hiked the lead to 41-30 with 4:42 left and St. John's held a 49-34 lead by halftime on a jumper by Cole with 36 seconds remaining.

St. John's cooled off early in the second half by missing 11 of its first 15 shots, and DePaul was within 59-50 on a basket by Ray Salnave with 13:11 left. But the Blue Demons never cut the lead beyond seven points the rest of the way.

--Field Level Media