College Basketball Roundup : St. John’s Rolls to 9th Straight Victory, 79-57

Walter Berry scored 22 points to lead No. 11 St. John’s to its ninth straight victory--a 79-57 decision over James Madison Thursday night in an first-round game of the Holiday Festival at New York.

St. John’s will play St. Bonaventure Saturday in the tournament’s championship game.

Berry scored 14 points in the second half as the Redmen (11-1) pulled away after leading at halftime, 35-25.

In the second half, St. John’s led, 45-37, then outscored the Dukes, 14-4, as Berry hit three field goals during the stretch.

Willie Glass scored 14 points, Ron Rowan added 13 and Shelton Jones had 10 for St. John’s, the defending tournament champions.

John Newman scored 17 and Eric Brent had 14 for James Madison (2-5).

St. Bonaventure 74, Iona 72--Elmer Anderson’s 18-foot jump shot with two seconds left in overtime gave the Bonnies the win in the other first-round game of the Holiday Festival.

In the overtime period, Iona took the lead, 72-70, on a basket by Eddie Harris. But Doug Turner tied it for St. Bonaventure (6-2) with a basket.

With 49 seconds left, the Gaels (3-7) missed a chance to go ahead when Jeff Wilder couldn’t connect on a one-and-one free-throw chance.

Iona trailed, 41-28, at halftime, and was down by as many as 17 points early in the second half.

But the Gaels came back, outscoring the Bonnies, 27-7, including 10 straight points, to take a 59-58 edge.

Iona increased its lead to 66-62 on Richie Simmond’s free throw with 3:40 left, but Radcliffe Llewellyn’s two free throws and Barry Mungar’s jump shot got St. Bonaventure even, 66-66.

Llewellyn’s jumper with 19 seconds left sent the game into overtime at 68-68.

Iona’s Bob Coleman led all scorers with 25 points and he grabbed 13 rebounds. Mungar was top scorer for St. Bonaventure with 18.

Oregon State 69, Tennessee Tech 54--Jose Ortiz, a 6-10 center from Puerto Rico, scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Beavers to a first-round win in the Far West tournament at Portland, Ore.

Tennessee Tech took a 36-31 lead early in the second half, but the Beavers outscored the Golden Eagles, 17-6, in the next eight minutes to take a 48-42 advantage.

Ortiz scored 13 points in the second half, most of them coming from the inside.

Oregon State expanded its lead with free throws in the final two minutes.

Steve Woodside scored 15 points for Oregon State (4-3), including eight in the final three minutes. Stephen Kite led Tennessee Tech (6-3) with 18.