NEW YORK (AP) A 70-foot shot just before halftime gave St. John's momentum, and LJ Figueroa and the Red Storm used a strong defensive effort in the second half to surprise No. 13 Villanova.

Figueroa scored 22 points and St. John's rallied to beat the Wildcats 71-65 on Sunday night. It was the first win for the Red Storm at Madison Square Garden against Villanova in 17 years, and they accomplished the feat in front of an energetic sellout crowd of nearly 20,000 fans.

"It was as loud as I can remember, maybe louder," St. John's coach Chris Mullin said. "I'm happy for them they got to experience that too. There's nothing like that. There are some great places to play college basketball, but when you get a full Madison Square Garden against a championship team like Villanova there's nothing like that. It's awesome. It helped us. It kept us in the game and took us to another level."