COL BKB: St. John's 76, DePaul 51

NEW YORK, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Dwight Hardy helped break open the game late in the first half Wednesday and No. 25 St. John's rolled to a 76-51 blasting of DePaul.

The Red Storm played as a ranked team for the first time in 11 years.

Hardy scored 21 points and Paris Horne added 14 for St. John's (18-9, 10-5 Big East Conference). A 12-point run by the Red Storm opened a 19-point cushion with 3 minutes to go in the first half and the Blue Demons could not make a game of it after that.

St. John's also got 11 points and 10 rebounds from D.J. Kennedy while winning its fifth in a row.

Cleveland Melvin led DePaul (7-20, 1-14) with 16 points. After winning their only league game against Providence, the Blue Demons have dropped two straight.