No. 12 Louisville 72, St. John’s 58: Russ Smith scored 21 of his 24 points in the second half as the host Cardinals knocked off the Red Storm in Big East play.

Peyton Siva tallied 12 points and Gorgui Dieng grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds to go with 10 points for Louisville (20-5, 8-4 Big East), which bounced back from Saturday’s five-overtime loss to Notre Dame.

Phil Greene IV scored 21 points and D’Angelo Harrison added 18 for St. John’s (15-10, 7-6). Assistant coach Rico Hines coached the Red Storm for the second consecutive game with head coach Steve Lavin away from the team due to the death of his father.

St. John’s scored the first 10 points of the second half to take a 33-32 lead. The Cardinals answered with a 20-6 surge – Smith scored 12 straight Louisville points at one point during the run – to take a 13-point lead with 9:06 to play and continued on to notch its 20th victory for the 11th consecutive season.

Louisville jumped out to an early 11-3 lead before St. John’s later scored eight straight points to take a one-point lead. The Cardinals scored the final eight points of the half for a 32-23 lead at the break.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Lavin will return to coach the Red Storm in Wednesday’s game against South Florida. … Louisville F Wayne Blackshear left in the second half with a shoulder injury. … Harrison, a sophomore, became the 48th player in St. John’s history to reach 1,000 career points. His total stands at 1,001.