NEW YORK (AP) There were a lot of looks of disbelief in Madison Square Garden as St. John's was running away from a ranked team to win the Holiday Festival.
It felt like the old days for St. John's, which beat No. 17 North Carolina State 63-45 on Thursday night.
The Red Storm, a program going through the worst two years in the school's 90-plus seasons of basketball, had fans thinking about the glory days with the win in the championship game of the Holiday Festival.
"This was a great night for the team, the program, especially with the stuff we've been dealing with," first-year coach Norm Roberts said.
It was St. John's 39th appearance in the annual tournament, and its 13th title - the last coming in 1996.
This win was as dominant as any in the days of Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca or players such as Sonny Dove, Chris Mullin or Malik Sealy. The Red Storm (6-4) led 27-10 at halftime and pulled away by holding the Wolfpack (10-2) without a field goal for a 14-minute stretch.
"The Holiday Festival is St. John's tournament," Roberts said. "We should play well here and expect to win. That's the way Looie had it."
When Cedric Simmons finally scored with 13:05 to play, it brought North Carolina State within 39-14. The last previous field goal came with 7:02 to play in the first half and that 3-pointer by Cameron Bennerman ended a 7:20 scoreless drought for the Wolfpack.
"It was a combination of our defense and their shooting," Roberts said of the Wolfpack's 20 percent shooting from the field. "They missed some shots the normally make but we did a good job defending their first shot and then did a great job rebounding."
Daryll Hill had 19 points for the Red Storm and was selected the tournament's MVP, while Eugene Lawrence had 10 points and seven rebounds.
"This is the best experience I've ever had at school," said Hill, a sophomore guard. "If we keep playing the way we're playing, there will be a lot more wins."
While it seemed everyone was scoring for St. John's, nobody could find the basket for North Carolina State.
Julius Hodge, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year and a former New York City high school star, went 0-for-6 from the field in the first half and missed two more shots before getting his first field goal on a dunk with 11:13 to go. That made it 42-18 and cut into St. John's biggest lead.
