Ponds scores 26 as St. John’s beats Oregon State 82-77

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) – Shamorie Ponds scored 26 points and Marcus LoVett added 18 as St. John’s rallied from a double-digit second-half deficit to beat Oregon State 82-77 Thursday in the first round of the Advocare Invitational.
 
After trailing by 10 midway through the second half, St. John’s went up 69-67 with 4 minutes left on Kassoum Yakwe’s rebound slam.
 
Marvin Clark II added 10 points, including a 3-pointer shortly after Yakwe’s go-ahead basket, for St. John’s (5-0), which last opened a season with five straight wins in 2009-10.
 
Oregon State (2-2) got 22 points from Stephen Thompson Jr. and Ethan Thompson had 19. Both players made four 3-pointers as the Beavers hit 11 of 24 from distance.
 
Stephen Thompson had 13 of his points in the first half, helping Oregon State go up 40-37. The Beavers turned it over 12 times, compared to St. John’s two during the opening 20 minutes.
 
Oregon State finished with 21 turnovers, while St. John’s had six.
 
BIG PICTURE
 
St. John’s last won a regular-season tournament in 2010, taking titles at the Great Alaska Shootout and the MSG Holiday Festival.
 
Oregon State: Stephen Thompson entered 1 for 15 from 3-point range. He has 109 in his career and needs 23 to break into the Beavers top-10 after going 4 for 8 Thursday.
 
UP NEXT
 
St. John’s advanced to Friday’s semifinals against Missouri, which routed Long Beach State 95-58 earlier Thursday.
 
Oregon State plays LBSU in a consolation bracket game Friday in a rematch of last Saturday’s 89-81 OSU win.