Somehow, Wagner had the chance to get even deep into the second half. 

Carnesecca Arena was silent, stunned at the possibility that the newly nationally ranked Johnnies were flirting with such a disastrous defeat. 

No. 22 St. John’s had looked out of sorts all night, disconnected on the offensive end, unable to put quality possessions together. 

It was a two-point game and Wagner’s Ja’Kair Sanchez had the ball on the right block.

Soon it seemed that the NEC school would be square. 

Except, Kadary Richmond, quiet for so much of the evening, finally made a play.

A big play.

Richmond didn’t just block the shot.

He swallowed it, keeping possession.

A few seconds later, he found Deivon Smith for an open 3-pointer in transition. 

The crowd exhaled. 

St. John’s (3-0) was not going to play around with its food anymore.

It reeled off 18 consecutive points in the span of 5:06 and cruised to a 66-45 victory from there.

All of a sudden, the 3-pointers started falling, four of them in the run from four different players, Smith, Aaron Scott, Brady Dunlap and Zuby Ejiofor. 

“I feel like that was a game-changer to start the 18-0 run,” said Richmond, who was a team-high plus-23 across 28 minutes. 

Added coach Rick Pitino: “I’m impressed, even though we’re much more talented than Wagner. Players will get tight in this type of game, because you’re supposed to win and everybody expects it. What happens is it’s two points and you panic. Instead, they turned up the heat, made shots and they were poised when it counted.” 

Still, the first 30 minutes were concerning. St. John’s was outrebounded by a far smaller team.

It was outworked.

It missed 12 free throws and committed 15 turnovers.

There was a 6:39 scoring drought in the second half. It was completely out of sync, similar to the shaky first half in Saturday’s win over Quinnipiac. 

“I think we got to be settled, especially on the offensive end,” Ejiofor said. “Obviously, it starts with defense, bringing energy, even on the bench, on the court. Bringing energy from start to finish. I think we have to do a better job of coming out with a lot of energy the first four minutes. We have to start the games a lot better.” 

Ultimately, it woke up in time. 

RJ Luis led St. John’s with 13 points, Scott added 11 and Simeon Wilcher had nine.

Richmond tallied seven assists and Smith followed with nine points and eight rebounds.

Javier Ezquerra had 10 points for Wagner (1-2), the defending NEC champions. 

The ugly win put a cap on the soft early portion of St. John’s nonconference schedule.

Starting on Sunday, St. John’s will play four games in eight days against four quality opponents.

First up is New Mexico, which is coming off of an upset of then-No. 22 UCLA, at the Garden.

Then, No. 12 Baylor, No. 11 Tennessee or Virginia and Georgia in the Bahamas. 

No more cupcakes. Major tests await. 

“We will have to play great offense as well as great defense to beat a New Mexico and beat a Baylor, Tennessee, Georgia,” Pitino said. “We’re going to have to play much better at both ends of the floor. … I think we’re ready defensively. I think offensively, we got to get a feel for each other a little bit more. 

“But there’s something unique about this basketball team. When we went down [13] to Rutgers, there was no panic. When it was [a two-point] lead tonight, there was no panic. They took the shots that were there. I have confidence in this team.”