St. John’s 77, NJIT 58: Chris Obekpa had 13 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks, leading the host Red Storm to an easy victory over the Highlanders in the season opener for both teams.

Rysheed Jordan added 18 points and five assists, and St. John’s was 27-of-36 from the line in a victory that the Red Storm (1-0) hope can spark the biggest season in Steve Lavin’s tenure at the Big East school. St. John's has averaged 17 victories in Lavin's first four seasons, but brings higher expectations into this season.

Damon Lynn had 15 points and three steals, but he couldn’t prevent NJIT (0-1) from opening the year with a loss for the eighth consecutive time. Daquan Holiday added 10 points and five rebounds for the Highlanders, who trailed 37-19 at the half.

Obekpa, who averaged 20.1 minutes per game as a freshman last season when St. John's secured a berth in the NIT, has been bothered by an ankle injury, but didn’t play like it. He had two missed shots and recorded a foul in the game’s first three minutes, but responded with a dunk with 14:58 left in the first half that ignited the crowd and sent the home team on its way to a second win over the Highlanders in the last three years.

Four players scored in double figures for the Red Storm, who had 38 points in the paint while playing without transfer Keith Thomas, a power forward who led the junior college's top division in rebounding last season. Thomas was ruled academically ineligible last month, forcing Lavin to shuffle his rotation and dig deeper on a bench that also missed freshman center Adonis DeLaRosa, another ineligible player who is still two classes away from returning.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Lavin, the former coach at UCLA, is 72-60 since taking over the Red Storm in 2010. ... The Highlanders, who call an urban campus in Newark, N.J., their home, are Division I's lone team without a conference affiliation. … St. John’s, which debuted navy blue Under Armour uniforms, is now 5-0 under Lavin in season openers.