St. JOHN's 81, NO. 4 DUKE 77Red Storm's skid ends in stunning style

NEW YORK – That's two losses in three games for Duke — and this one to a team that hadn't won since Christmas.

Shamorie Ponds scored 33 points and St. John's stunned the Blue Devils 81-77 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, ending an 11-game losing streak and handing a suddenly suspect Duke squad its second defeat in eight days. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called it a "disgusting" performance.

"We got what we deserved," Krzyzewski said. "We weren't able to knock them out after we lost the first 12 rounds of a 15-round fight."

Bashir Ahmed had 19 points and Tariq Owens had 17 for the Red Storm (11-13), who overcame an early 10-point deficit and fought off Duke's heralded freshmen down the stretch in their biggest victory under third-year coach Chris Mullin.

St. John's last won Dec. 20 vs. St. Joseph's. "We would have taken a win if it was in an empty gym," Mullin said.

St. John's was playing the second of three consecutive games vs. top-six opponents in a span of nine days. Next up, a visit to No. 1 Villanova on Wednesday.

Gary Trent Jr. of Apple Valley had 22 points for the Blue Devils (19-4), who perhaps got caught looking ahead to their first matchup of the season with North Carolina on Thursday.

"Ponds was really as good a guard offensively as we've played against," he said. "We came in prepared."

Marvin Bagley III scored 19 points for Duke but sat out a significant chunk of the second half with four fouls. Wendell Carter Jr. added 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Duke was coming off an easy victory Monday over Notre Dame that followed a 65-63 loss at home to No. 2 Virginia last weekend.