COL BKB: Louisville 88, St. John's 63

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Preston Knowles scored 25 points and helped key an early run Wednesday that sent No. 15 Louisville sailing to an 88-63 victory over St. John's.

The victory came in the 800th game as a college head coach for Louisville's Rick Pitino. He has 587 victories.

Louisville scored 11 consecutive points during a span of almost 5 minutes in the first half to open a 24-13 lead and the Cardinals were never threatened the rest of the way. Kyle Kuric scored 20 off the bench while hitting 7-of-9 shots from the field.

The Cardinals (15-3, 4-1 Big East) shot 53 percent from the field and made half their 26 attempts from 3-point range. Louisville has won four of its last five.

St. John's (11-6, 4-3) was led by 13 points from Paris Horne. The Red Storm has lost three out of four, all those setbacks coming against ranked teams.