NEW YORK -- Shamorie Ponds scored 14 points with six rebounds, Bashir Ahmed had five boards and 14 points and St. John's beat Division II Molloy 71-43 on Monday for its first 4-0 season start since 2014-15.

Marvin Clark II added 10 points and Justin Simon had seven points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for St. John's, which outrebounded the Lions 43-35 and scored 26 points off of 21 Molloy turnovers.

Back-to-back dunks by Marcus LoVett and Ahmed capped the 22-2 run St. John's used to open the second half and they led by as many as 29 on Amar Alibegovic's layup with 1:04 to play. Clark's jumper put St. John's up for good, 17-16, after three lead changes and the Red Storm led 28-21 at halftime after shooting 33 percent from the field.

Curtis Jenkins led Molloy with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Justin Caldwell had nine boards.