Dwight Hardy scored 24 points and Justin Brownlee scored 21 to lead St. John's to an 85-69 victory over Northwestern at the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival on Tuesday.

John Shurna scored 28 points for Northwestern (8-1), which was denied matching the 9-0 start of the 1993-94 team.

St. John's (7-3) won its 15th Holiday Festival championship and its first since 2005. It was the Red Storm's second win in a row after a two-game losing streak.

Northwestern rallied for a 40-37 halftime lead, and led 51-50 with 12:29 to go. But the Red Storm went on a 6-0 run to take the lead for good on baskets by Hardy and Dwayne Polee Jr., and two free throws by Justin Burrell.

St. John's was 31 of 51 (60.8 percent) from the field, and 7 for 14 from 3-point range. Northwestern was 10 for 25 from 3-point range, and 25 for 59 from the field (42.4 percent).

Drew Crawford scored 17 points for Northwestern, and Michael Thompson added 13 points.