St. John's Harrison lights up DePaul

ROSEMONT – DePaul learned the hard way Wednesday night just how dangerous St. John’s freshman guard D’Angelo Harrison becomes when he gets hot behind the three-point line.

Harrison knocked down seven three-pointers and scored 21 of his career- and game-high 29 points in the second half to fuel St. John’s 87-81 comeback win.

Despite shooting 2 for 10 in the first half, Harrison, who is averaging 24.3 points his past four games, never lost confidence.

“The coaches always do a good job when I’m missing shots ... because they believe in me,” Harrison said. “After I hit two, three in a row, it was like I’m going to have a night. I had an incredible night.”

Harrison’s sizzling shooting forced DePaul to key on him along the perimeter, and the Red Storm took advantage inside. St. John’s outrebounded DePaul, 37-29, leading to 21 second-chance points.

Two lengthy runs bailed out the Red Storm (10-12, 4-6 Big East), who battled from behind most of the game.

Also reaching double digits for St. John’s were God’sgift Achiuwa with 15 points, Phil Greene with 14 and Amkir Garrett with 12.

Cleveland Melvin scored 22 points to lead DePaul (11-10, 2-7), which was denied its first back-to-back Big East wins since the 2007-08 season.