NEW YORK -- Willie Glass hit 14 of 19 shots from the field and scored 33 points, and Shelton Jones added 25 points Friday night to lead St. John's to a 126-81 rout of Southern University in the first round of the Lapchick Tournament.
Host St. John's advanced to the final for the 12th time in the 12 years of the tournament and will meet Youngstown State, which defeated Marist 56-52 in the other first-round game, in Saturday's title matchup.
The Redmen broke their record for points in a game, surpassing the 115 they scored against Rhode Island Dec. 15, 1956.
St. John's led by as many as 51 points in the second half. Terry Bross had 20 points for the Redmen, Mark Jackson added 18 and John Hemple 15. Craig Pollard led Southern with 19 points and Joe Faulkner added 18 in the opening game of the season for both teams.
St. John's led 24-18 midway through the first half before going on a 15-2 spurt in less than four minutes that produced a 39-20 lead. After Southern drew within 43-27, St. John's scored 21 of the last 25 points in the first half. Hempel scored 8 and Glass 6 in the run, and the Redmen built a 64-31 halftime lead.
In the nightcap, Tillman Bevely's jump shot with 2:20 remaining put Youngstown State ahead 52-51. The Penguins scored 9 of the game's last 10 points to defeat Marist.
Earlier in the day, Marist had lost its three top players because of an NCAA ineligibility ruling.
Rik Smits, Miroslav Pecarski and Rudy Bourgarel were given suspensions of varying lengths, which are being appealed by Marist. The Red Foxes were able to use only eight players against Youngstown State.
Marist had led 51-47 before Steve Hanousek hit a 3-pointer for the Penguins and Bevely's basket gave Youngstown State a 52-51 lead.
Robert Johnson followed with a layup, before Peter Krasovec hit a free throw for Marist's only point in the final 4:46.
James Wilson converted 2 free throws with one second remaining to clinch the victory for Youngstown State in the first game for both teams.
Bevely scored a game-high 23 points, John Robinson had 12 and Hanousek 10. Wilson and Bevely had 10 rebounds apiece.
Drafton Davis led the Red Foxes with 20 points, while Krasovec and Ron McCants had 10 each.
Dervynn Johnson scored a career-high 33 points Saturday night to lead Southern University to an 89-82 victory over Marist in the consolation game of the 12th annual Joe Lapchick Tournament.
Host team St. John's was scheduled to meet Youngstown State in the championship game.
Southern, 1-1, opened its biggest lead of the game, 58-44, at 13:55 of the second half. Marist, however, used a 13-4 run to tie the score at 70. Southern broke the game open by scoring nine straight points to move ahead 81-72 with 2:30 left.
Marist, 0-2, was led by Peter Krasovec with a career-high 28 points and Ron McCants with 26.
