St. John's Holds On To Beat St. Francis, 63-56

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Durand Johnson scored 19 points, Yankuba Sima had 17 and St. John's hung on for a 63-56 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn on Sunday in the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival.

Johnson scored six of St. John's final eight points, including four in the last 30 seconds, to hold off the Terriers, who had closed within 57-55 with 1:03 to play on a layup by Yunus Hopkinson.

Johnson hit a baseline jumper as the shot clock expired to put the Red Storm up 59-55 with 30 seconds to go, and after Hopkinson made one of two free throws, he converted both ends of a 1-and-1 for a six-point lead.

It was the first game as a coach at Madison Square Garden for Chris Mullin, whose first game as a player here was in the Holiday Festival in 1981. He was voted Most Valuable Player of that tournament.

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