NEWARK -- The buildup was all about returns. The result was all about destinations.
St. John's venture to New Jersey on Saturday night to face Seton Hall had the draw of Kadary Richmond going back to face the team for which he starred for the previous three seasons. But in the end, it was all about the Red Storm ascending to first place in the Big East standings and a likely return to the AP Top 25.
St. John's blew past Seton Hall early with a huge first half and then rolled to a 79-51 Big East victory at Prudential Center. The Storm's win was its fifth in a row and 11th in 12 games. More important: their victory combined with Xavier's win at No. 7 Marquette, puts St. John's (16-3, 7-1) alone in first place in the Big East.
St. John's lead in the first half got as big as 24 points, reached 25 early in the second half and Seton Hall (6-12, 1-6) never got closer than 16 points in a second half that was chippy and marked by a pair of flagrant I fouls by Seton Hall and a double technical on Storm coach Rick Pitino and Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway.
The Pirates fans, as expected, gave Richmond an unpleasant reception. He heard vigorous boos when he was introduced with the starting lineup and each time he touched the ball for about the first 10 minutes. The score eventually seemed to take a toll on the venom.
Richmond finished with 12 points, six assists and five rebounds.
RJ Luis Jr. led the Storm with 24 points, including four of the team's seven three-pointers, and eight rebounds, Zuby Ejiofor had 15 points and nine rebounds and Aaron Scott had 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
And there was the unanticipated comeback of Deivon Smith from the right shoulder injury that kept him out of Tuesday's win over Georgetown. Just the day before, Pitino had all but ruled Smith out for this contest.
Smith did not look entirely like himself, but was still a contributor. He played 17 minutes and had two assists and three rebounds, though the righthanded shooter was 0-for-6 and made a number of passes with his left hand. When he wasn't in the game, he wore a heat pack on the shoulder and when he was taken out for the final time got an ice pack instead.
Isaiah Coleman had 11 points for Seton Hall. Former Storm player Dylan Addae-Wusu missed the game with a foot injury.
The boos that Seton Hall fans showered on Richmond each time he touched the ball in the first half at least gave them a chance to put voice to something. There was very little for them to cheer as St. John's blew them off the starting line en route to a 39-16 halftime lead.
It was the fewest points allowed in a first half by St. John's since it limited Rutgers to 14 in the first half of a win on Feb. 6, 2008.
And the Storm defense was sensational, holding the Pirates to 13% shooting in the first half including one stretch of 9:51 when they went 0-for-16.
Smith coming off the bench wasn't entirely unforeseen after watching warm-ups. Though he hadn't even practiced since injuring his right shoulder in last Saturday's win over Villanova and had gotten a cortisone injection on Tuesday, he came out to warm up with the team and went though its standard shooting and stretching routine.
He came into the game with the Storm ahead by 13 and 13:42 left in the half, but clearly was limited. He was 0-for-5 in the first half and took one of the shots lefthanded.
Richmond provided the juice for the Red Storm to get liftoff. He had four points and two assists in the first 4:52 as St. John's got out to a 12-3 lead.
From there, Luis and the Storm defense took over the game.
Luis had three-pointers on consecutive possessions and had totaled all of his 13 first-half points in the first 8:45 as St. John's went ahead 22-7. When Jaiden Glover drained a three-pointer from the wing with 4:33 left in the half, the Storm had their biggest lead of the first 20 minutes, 37-13.