Sparked by a 13-0 second-half run, the St. John's Red Storm rallied to defeat the Massachusetts Minutemen, 78-63, on Sunday in Uncasville, Conn.

Massachusetts (5-2) took a 53-48 lead with 10:54 left in regulation, but St. John's (5-2) clamped down and shut out the Minutemen over the next four minutes.

A 3-pointer by David Caraher broke a 53-all tie and put St. John's ahead for good at the 8:19 mark of the second half. Julian Champagnie scored five points as part of the 13-0 surge which gave the Red Storm a 61-53 lead with 6:54 to go.

UMass sliced that eight-point deficit to three on two separate occasions. The second time the Minutemen drew close, St. John's pulled away.

With SJU leading 63-60, Josh Roberts made a layup with 4:05 left for a 65-60 lead. Then, Nick Rutherford collected a steal and fed L.J. Figueroa for a basket and a 67-60 advantage with 3:37 remaining.

UMass didn't hit another field goal attempt until the final minute. Due to their dominant defense in the second half, the Red Storm tucked away their fifth victory of the season.

St. John's needed its defense to be great. The Red Storm made just 6 of 19 3-pointers, under 32 percent.

They made barely more than half of their free throws (16 of 27).

The Red Storm squeezed the life out of the UMass offense. The Minutemen finished 19 of 58 from the field, under 33 percent. They were only 9 of 31 from 3-point range. They also committed 17 turnovers.

St. John's swiped 13 steals in this game. Figueroa had six for the Red Storm.

Caraher led St. John's in scoring with 17 points, coming off the bench. Roberts scored 16 points and added eight rebounds plus three blocked shots.

T.J. Weeks scored 19 points off the bench to lead UMass, but he was only 5 of 15 from the field.

--Field Level Media